a victorian perspective

Update

2011-09-27T23:37:00.000-07:00

It's been 5 months since I left and I thought I would send a brief update on my life here..

Nairobi- a city of over 4 million, with around a third of the population living in slum/informal settlements. A city whose air quality doesn't meet World Health Organization minimum standards, thanks to the most unorganized and horrendous traffic known to man. No vehicle here would pass Vancouver's "Air Care" tests, I can tell you that! This city is extremely divided between the Rich and the Poor. I did not experience this in Uganda, nor have I experienced it anywhere in the world as much as I do here. Being white I automatically am assumed to be Rich, as much as I struggle to say that I'm not. I get called at and stared at on the streets I frequent, offered safaris and taxis and fancy hotels, no matter how hard I try to explain I am working in one of the large slums on the outskirts of Nairobi's industrial area. It's a hard city to work in. It takes me about 1 1/4 hours to get to work each day, and about the same to get home- unless I leave after 4pm, and then I will be stuck in traffic for over 2 hours.

But it is a very cosmopolitan city. There are also concerts and plays and films going on, cultural activities and festivals. It's a fun city to visit, or to explore and do all these fun things. There's a national park, lots of animal centers, classy malls, restaurants, bars and museums. It's really strange, my life sometimes..I go from working in the slum all day, traveling on public matatus (small busses), to going out to a nice(er) restaurant and film in the evening. Working in Development is a confusing world to navigate, how much should you spend on certain things, when should you feel bad for living in a nice and safe apartment when the people I work for and with live in 10 by 10 iron sheeting house?

I work in Mukuru slum, Hazina estate. Mukuru is what I call a "forgotten slum". Everyone knows about Kibera slum. It is famous, thanks to Bono, the film "the Constant Gardner" and President Obama. It's population alone is said to be around 1 million. We are not sure how accurate that is. Apparently the stat for NGOs working in Kibera is one NGO for every one thousand people. The most exaggerated I've heard is that there is one NGO for every 15 people in Kibera, or maybe that's just what it feels like. Kibera is impressive because it is all in one area. The other slum settlements in Nairobi are spread out- such as Mukuru. Mukuru is in between the industrial factories, in smaller pockets of around one hundred thousand, apparently the total is around 600,000, but again, it's impossible to know exact numbers in slum settlements. However we have recently been in the international news, as you may have heard about a pipeline explosion in a Nairobi slum. That was Mukuru Sinai, which is a ways away from our building but in the same area. The tragedy devastated the area and I visited the site a few days after it happened, when they were still finding bodies in the river. This is unfortunately a common occurrence in slum settlements, when there is a gas leak, people run to collect the fuel so they can sell it. However the fuel was flowing through the Ngnog "river" which doubles as the sewer, and houses are build overtop of it. One match, one flame from a cooking stove, and the fuel set fire and flew down the river- burning to death anyone who was there trying to collect fuel.

Where I am based, there are many one or two humanitarian organizations. This is why Mukuru youth have taken matter into their own hands, and ten years ago a group of Kenyan friends formed my current placement; Make A Better World Kenya (MABWOK). They do a million things, but most powerfully is offering early childhood education program, with a linking adult literacy program for the parents of the children, a computer training program, economic empowerment/financial literacy program, and small business/entrepreneurship training program. Their main funder pulled out recently, but the staff have insisted that programs continue as before. This is where I come in- my main role is to support the development of sustainable social enterprises that MABWOK can engage in, to run part of their organization with profit making businesses that can fund the education and training programs at the organization. Currently they are collecting school fees from parents and computer training students, running a small internet cafe with a few working computers, and selling water. We are working on a few other programs that I will continue to update on.

My biggest belief is in MABWOK and my greatest pride will be assisting them to becoming sustainable. They are smart, hard working and deserve recognition. I just wanted to tell you all about them!

I have 3 months left here, and by all means if anyone is interested in hearing more about MABWOK, Street Kids International, or Kenya... Drop me a line at vkharris@gmail.com.

Thanks again for your prayers- for me but more importantly for people of Nairobi- of Kenya- of Mukuru slum, and all informal urban slum settlements around the globe that simply need some investment from their governments to make them thrive.

Just Shut Your Eyes And Go.

2011-06-29T05:43:00.000-07:00

Signals We Are Free EP at www.grmnygrmny.com .

This song stuck out to me as I believe it was kind of what I was thinking as I left for Kenya nearly two months ago now. All I had wanted since I left east Africa in 2009 was to get back here, yet in the final few weeks before leaving for my internship with Street Kids International all I could do was cling to my life in Abbotsford. Finally it came to that sometimes you have to Just Shut Your Eyes And Go.

My first month in Kenya was not unexpected; the city of Nairobi was just as insanely busy, smog filled, congested and expensive as everyone had warned me about, Mukuru slum was just as poor and underdeveloped, Make A Better World Kenya (MABWOK) just as short on resources, despite their big heart and vision. I’ve worked in East Africa before, and I get how to communicate culturally with locals and how to barter my way into a decent price for a taxi. I know that everything moves 1000 times slower (or just differently) than I am used to in Canada. I know that my Way-Over-Pro-active personality needs to chill out and take a breather here. However; head knowledge is nothing to experiential knowledge, even past experiential knowledge that has, over the years, turned into head knowledge. I have never been so extremely frustrated with a place I’ve been living, I’ve never ended up in tears after sitting in a sweaty congested bus stuck in a traffic jam for 3 hours.

Through my second month I have grown in my knowledge and understanding of life in the slum and of the Community Based Organization which is Make A Better World Kenya (MABWOK). Amongst the hundreds of NGOs, CBOs, Government organizations, private sector organizations, societies, social enterprises, and non-profits that exist simultaneously in Nairobi, MABWOK has formed as a group of street kids themselves with originally no support except from the community of Mukuru and its inhabitants, with a vision to change the lives of their peers, the youth, and the children, for the better. Through the past ten years they have seen growth and struggle with finances and commitment of street youth, struggled with resources for the children, struggled to pay their teachers and keep spirits high. Coming out of 5 years of support from Irish NGO GOAL has made them re-think their strategy for the future and we are brainstorming along the lines of social enterprise, to employ youth in a socially conscious business which will generate income for them and also support for MABWOK, so they can be self sufficient and no longer need to rely on donor support.

It’s this attitude that I’m encouraged by, and in turn have discovered my main duty here is to encourage and support them as they fight for change in the slums. Despite my frustrations with Nairobi as a city itself, Kenya is still Kenya, and I am blessed to be here.

With love,

Vicki.

Balance.

2011-05-22T02:53:00.000-07:00

I haven't written much as I've been trying to gather my thoughts from the last two weeks without just spouting off meaningless drivel on this blog. When I've been meeting people in the last few weeks, everyone's first question is, "So..How do you like Nairobi?" Which seems like a loaded question, and it's asked with a slightly raised eyebrow to see what angle you are going to take. My first response is not positive or negative, I kind of smile and shrug and say, "Well...I'm figuring it out..." which is followed by understanding laughter.

The thing is, Nairobi is a city of controversy. On one hand, it's extremely 'modern' and 'progressive'; if we are talking about there are fancy malls and restaurants and that going out costs the same as it does in Vancouver. On the other, it's roads are atrocious, the transportation system is extremely lacking quality (and safety) and reliability, and many other things. It is the single biggest conversation topic among expats and locals alike. It overshadows the enjoyment of actually leaving your apartment, it's that stressful. So, most expats I have met- take taxis- constantly. The problem with this for me is that my stipend won't exactly allow for the luxury of taxis as costs for fuel here compare to what they are at home.

My days and nights are so extremely opposite that it is, like day and night. In the morning I fight people and traffic into a passing Matatu (mini bus) heading into town- which takes around 45 minutes (it would take ten if there were no traffic), then I fight through crowds of people to get to where I jump on another Matatu that heads into Mukuru slum-South B- near the industrial park (if you are google earth-ing me). This takes another half hour, if I'm lucky. I arrive at work already sweaty and dirty- good thing I'm working in the slum! I actually love MABWOK (www.mabwok.org) the staff, the students, the youth, the kids, everyone is wonderful. Though I'm still not totally sure what my job will end up looking like in the end, for now I'm trying to be content just enjoying learning and observing.

My evenings, when I arrive home into my lovely apartment, contain me having a shower, cleaning my nose from black soot, and getting into jeans and a sweater (yes, it's cool here...not hot) and say going out in a taxi to fancy Westgate mall to the Artcaffe, eating a dinner and having a drink in a place where people don't seem to know what is an hour away. I am as guilty as anyone- but where is the balance? I know I'm not expected to live in the slum, or like I am, but I also never feel comfortable spending $25 on a meal here. (Luckily beer stays at around $2 for a giant bottle, even in nice places).

The gap between the Rich and the Poor is extreme. There is no middle ground (or very little). This, in my mind, just seems to feed the animosity between the classes, and thus reinforces the fear of being robbed or cheated. The Rich here, are very Rich. They aren't just Rich because they are in Kenya, they would be considered Rich in Canada or Europe as well. It is not the racial classes that separate- it is simply wealth. There are extremely wealthy Kenyans, Indians and Asians here-as well as some rich white folk- and then there are poor NGO workers like me...and then the other extreme in the slums. In Uganda it wasn't as noticeable.

How does one navigate this city? I'm still not sure. I'm not sure what I think of it yet. I have met some lovely people, and had some great conversations and coffees and drinks out, and it will continue to get better and I will find my place, and my niche here. It just may take longer than I was expecting.

Nairobi day 3- CIDA Internship 2011

2011-05-11T02:57:00.000-07:00

Hello outside world!

I will post more on this when I have more access to internet- but just wanted to write a big hi hello I'm alive and well on here incase anyone is checking to see what I've been writing/doing since I left Vancouver on Saturday.

All I will say is that it took forever to get here and I was devastated for leaving Dan Bryce and cried my eyes out like a baby for most of my travels..but was greeted by my lovely Africa early Monday morning and have enjoyed myself getting to know the staff at Make A Better World Kenya (MABWOK) where I will be working, and the people I am staying with for the week- (Dan Ongola and family- founding director of Matibabu Foundation) a few Canadian girl volunteers here with SEED, and a few others. I will be moving into an apartment this weekend hopefully with a girl who works for the UN, it's a beautiful apartment and I think it will be a great connection.

All in all things are going well, I am well looked after, healthy, fed, excited to get into my own place and really starting working and getting settled..as its the unsettledness that makes me miss the stability of home and of my lovely Daniel.

please email me vkharris@gmail.com or contact me on Facebook- Victoria Harris or add me on Skype- victoriakathrynharris.

And feel free to read my other blog- Dan and I's food blog- I believe you can access it from this blog. Daniel and Victoria's Love, Life, and Food for Thought.

Love you all!

I'm just gonna take a minute and let it ride.

2010-10-21T22:09:00.000-07:00

I'm finished my degree. It was anti-climactic, with Chad and I finishing our co-authored thesis; exhausted and fed up with it (yet still good friends, so thats exciting), with struggling to get my credits transferred from french camp, and with getting my wisdom teeth out and surgery on my sinuses.

Really awesome hurrah to the end of a 4 year degree finished in 3.

I'm sure it feels nice to be done- But I can't really see it. To go from being busy every second of every day- to absolutely nothing; no job, no money, no school- it's quite something. Sure I've been networking like mad- in meetings with all the profs and people in the field that I can get in touch with, scribbling notes for places to apply with, people to contact, websites to look at, etc etc etc. I've been in a few interviews, have applied with every NGO I can think of, have started working part time at a kids club after school care to cover my ass as far as bills go...I do have several more meetings lined up and application deadlines for the end of the month..

BUT STILL.

I feel purposeless. Maybe it's my selfish need for extreme affirmation that I need to work in development, or maybe I do have a humanitarian heart. I'm not sure but I do know I won't be able to do much else. (Happily, anyways).
My poor boyfriend and friends who have to put up with me during transition time. I apologize.

For now, I shall play K'naan lyrics over in my head and show 3 year old Phoenix videos of Africa and we'll talk about elephants together.

le fin

2010-08-18T15:48:00.000-07:00

I just read Joanne's comment on my last post now, which tells me to write about my "frenchy struggles". Unfortunately, I'm now back in Abbotsford after French camp and didn't write a word on this while I was there. Sorry, Jo. I didn't realize someone actually looked at this other than mom. ;)

My immersion experience was a roller coaster, to put it simply.
I hadn't looked at French since grade 12, which was.... 7 years ago.

The first week I think I cried every day at some point. Not for long, and not out of depression or I hated it or something, but just out of sheer frustration with my incomprehension of the language, the simplest of all communication. I felt robbed of my personality, my humor, my speech, my expressions, my ability to make friendships grow. It was humbling, to say the least. I had a hard time participating in conversations and activities simply because I couldn't understand. Luckily I had made friends within the first few days of english, and they wonderfully stuck by me in the french as well. I worked my ass off to understand, asking my friends who were in higher levels a million questions and sticking my nose in my dictionary constantly.

That was exhausting though. After week two the dictionary generally stayed in the room.
I got into the french groove. It started being more fun and funny than frustrating. I started to fall in love with all of my close friends. Our personalities came through the broken language made into nouveau mots! (EMILY) and the amalgamation of french and english words that sounded similar and meant the same thing (ie. Mait-now, Pourq-why), we became experts in reading each others minds, charade like actions, emotional noises, knowing looks and affectionate touches. Bonds are made deeper when you have to use other forms of communication to get across what you want to express.

Which is why it was soul-guttering to leave them after 5 weeks; 5 weeks with the same people every day, all day, every night, all night (other than sleeping-which was minimal anyways so does that even count?). It felt like part of my stomach had been scooped out with an ice cream scoop, leaving an uncomfortable sinking knot in my insides. Every part of me misses every one of them; Simon, Ilona, Stacey, Carla, Amanda, Emily, Nick, David. And others, who were friends and acquaintances, but not as close as the ones mentioned.

So why do we put ourselves through it? I wouldn't give up meeting these people for anything in the world- I wouldn't take back my intense friendships to skip the horrible missing- of them after it's over. It's the same thing whenever I go away, travel, do something cool with a group of new people. But it felt more intense this time, but maybe I say that everytime.

My return home has been difficult; probably because I'm back into writing my last 3 papers of my degree and then have an uncertainty about what I'm going to do after that, what change that will bring to my friends, my relationship, my house, my lifestyle here. Even the "here" part of that; for I'm willing to go wherever my career in development gives me the opportunity...Or am I?

le francais

2010-06-21T17:42:00.000-07:00

i realized my facebook says to read my blog.
that was a note from last summer, while i was in uganda.
i'm not in uganda right now.
i'm in abbotsford.
my life is not as interesting here.
some people can write blogs very artistically about their daily life /thoughts but I am not one of them..thus why i have only "blogged" when i've been travelling.
so i apologize for people who have looked at my blog in the last year. lame, right?
sorry.
i'll be on the road again a few weeks- but not sure if i'll be able to get on here- we'll see. i'm going to the french acadian coast of nova scotia to universite sainte anne, in a little town called point d'egalis (church point). i'm going to try and learn french for 5 weeks. we'll see how that goes!

working on drawing a straight line. i'll draw until i get one right.

2009-12-05T14:59:00.000-08:00

I had a terrible day the other day; it's the time in the semester when i get really stressed out with the amount of paperwork i need to hand in to my instructors and the fear of exams looms over my head with my heart racing, always thinking will i have enough time? it was one of those days when one things runs into the other and pile ontop of each other until all i'm aware of are the terrible things (that probably aren't really that terrible) that keep accumulating and happening to me. this is the cherry on top of my sundae of not-enough-sleep and too-much-stress and i arrived at dinner with tears forming in the back of my eyes. it was all i could do to escape to a coffee shop with my friend jen to work on a paper (combat stress with ..more stress?) which sometimes works if i can loose myself in my sociological mind in word form. tonight however, it took a song that i hadn't heard before to trigger something else to do. my angel rocks back and forth by the electronica band, fourtet played into my ears and triggered my senses and immediately made me want to be in uganda, or to do the next best thing..watch and compile all my favourite video clips from uganda. and this is the result. and it was healing. and the next day was an excellent, very good day.

backwards

2009-09-10T09:12:00.001-07:00

1. genna and i on last night out at sombrero's dancing our faces off till 4am..
2. me with prossy, an 18 year old girl with cerebral palsy at home of hope, one of our placements..a home for children with disabilities
3. one of the men i gave a family kit to...lame and diseased, he can't move from his miniature plastic "home"
whoops...the captions i just posted for the photos in the post below this are opposite...just incase you are wondering. i'll put a few more up on this one...

until next time!

2009-09-10T08:54:00.001-07:00

(photo 1- me meeting with a woman we gave a family kit to, njeru)
(photo 2- saying goodbye to emma, the ugandan version of me for GIVE international)
(photo 3- last night out with iain(and genna, ellert, tevin) at 2 friends)
(photo 4- best ugandan friend damali at her orphanage for my gbye party)
(photo 5- having lunch with my fav. babies at sonrise)
(photo 6- my dream house that's being built near damali's...alex, your supposed to buy it for me she says)
i appologize for not writing at all during my last week in uganda- but i was so busy trying to tie up loose ends, say goodbyes, sort out work and school stuff...it just never happened that i had a few hours to sit in indulge and wait for the internet to upload for me!
even now i am (wow..speaking ugandan english) at home at my parents' house in summerland trying to get over jet lag enough to be able to pack my car (thanks dad) and move myself back down to abbotsford to start school (minus the first few days of classes that i have missed...whoops)
the last week was wonderful- full of amazing conversations, friends, meals, nights out and not much sleep. i spent time with people i loved and enjoyed the most- in turn making leaving all that much harder when the time came around on monday morning.
i don't know how much i can say to process my emotions, just that my heart is stuck in uganda and i can't wait to return in 8 months.
SO, until next time...or until i maybe post again about some closing thoughts/photos, thank you for reading my updates and thinking of me the past three months.
xxxxxxxxxx vicks.

the amazing race to the last week...

2009-08-30T00:01:00.000-07:00

As I’m nearing into my last week in Uganda for 2009, my head is filled with thoughts; of what I still need to do (why oh why do I leave some projects for the last minute), of who I need to spend time with, what placements I need to say goodbye too, when I’m going to finish off my school work stuff, what babies I’m going to try and fit in my suitcase.

My pace is a lot different compared to the rest of the summer now. As the majority of my close friends have left town already to go back to the UK or wherever, my nights out have toned down to good one-on-one or few people conversations, a few games of pool at 2 Friends or Reflections, or just staying at home and drinking tea on the sofa with my housemate Iain as we daydream about other travels and trips we want to do. I have ended up meeting and spending time with people I never would have anticipated- like the other night when I found myself getting drinks bought for me from one of the Mahdvani brothers- (pretty well the richest family in Uganda- V. famous over here. I think they own half the country or something). When you’re used to conversations with other development workers about village latrines and HIV education, it was quite a change in tune to talk about his private jet and the new hotel he’s building in Murchesin Falls. Interesting that even in a country ravaged by poverty there still seems to be the extreme wealth of western nations. ‘The richer get richer’ as they say..

Thursday I spent the night at Damali’s. She’s short of staff right now as a few of the people helping her have gone back to university and another girl quit, and of course all my volunteers are gone now (except Sandy and Tom). Anyway, I volunteered to spend the night with baby Steven so Damali could get some sleep. After a few hours of facebook stalking and eating meat and matoke we went to bed. Steven was pretty good- I only had to feed him 2 bottles (2am and 3:30am) however after the second bottle he thought it was play time and I spent an hour trying to lure him back into sleep; which eventually worked and I slept until 7am when a very lively Damali bounded into the room to say good morning.

About 2am Saturday morning I was woken up by my stomach in severe knots. This was followed by about10 hours of severe vomiting and diarrhea; which ruined my plans for Saturday of going to a Ugandan “Introduction” (the first of many marriage ceremonies) in Entebbe with Godfrey’s family as I was sick until about noon Saturday. I stayed horizontal the whole day as standing up and being vertical sent my head and stomach spinning. This also ruined my plans of having a Big Night Out and dragging Iain to Sombrero’s for the first time with Ellert and I; (which I believe he was more than happy to not happen) Instead we lay on Iain’s bed and watched the football match of Manchester United vs Arsenal and ate food from Zamo. (By 8pm I could stomach some toast and a few fries). So much for a big weekend on the town, but I was more than grateful to have someone willing to watch TV with me all day and keep me company.

Now it’s Sunday morning and I feel great- which would be even more exciting if it wasn’t torrential down pouring and I could actually go out and do some things. The rainy season has officially begun, especially on the days I plan to go outside and tan. So instead I am busy planning out my last week and crossing my fingers I’m going to be able to fit everything in. So far it’s filling up with a few days of family kit delivering, shopping and delivering donation items to a few placements, saying goodbye to placements, having staff dinners/dinners with friends in town, taking photos, visiting all my favorite restaurants (Aaswad, 2 Friends, Indulge) and spots (Bujigali falls, Adrift base) and a few places I actually have never been around here- like the Speke gardens and the town side of Lake Victoria.

I was discussing with my other housemate Ruth yesterday about how the first while you’re here (or anywhere new) you go out constantly- never saying no, because you want to make friends and make yourself a home here. But when it gets to the last week or two- you start to not care as much, not really wanting to put the effort in because that’s just going to be more people you have to say goodbye to. I’ve found that I do this all over the place- whenever I’m leaving Summerland, or the coast, or whenever I’ve been away travelling before to New Zealand, Australia or Uganda/Rwanda. I’m not sure if it’s good or not, if it’s somewhat preparing myself for the change that’s to come or what. Saying that and recognizing that, I’m going to make the effort this week to live as if it’s my first week here again (well, maybe not THAT crazy) but I’m not going to recluse and sit at home and watch movies for the fear of getting close in relationships and saying goodbye- again and again. I’ll be back in like, 9 months anyway. Tis better to have loved and lost than not to have loved at all, right?

C’est la vie. See you all (in BC) in a week!
Xxx vicks.

UFV publicity

2009-08-27T04:12:00.000-07:00

I just submitted this to my university publicity and media department as per their request. thought i would share it on here...(seeing that i did ALLLL that typing already)
"Growing up in the small town of Summerland, BC formed the importance I now have of relationships, accountability and community support. I lived in the same house my entire life with my parents and 2 brothers (one older, one younger) until I graduated from Summerland Secondary School in 2003.Unknowing of what I wanted to pursue other than travelling, I spent a good four years off and on working from home as a lifeguard, waitress and ballet instructor ---and living/working/studying in New Zealand and Australia until spring 2007.
I first came to Uganda as a volunteer with Canadian NGO GIVE International in April 2007. I came as an optimistic, wide-eyed 21 year old who thought she knew a bit about travelling and ‘Africa’. My experience was life changing; not in a sappy, “I’ve Made A Difference” sort of way, but in a way that actually changed the direction of my life and formed my desires for a career in the future. Reflected in the fact that I re-directed my former strictly Theatre study path to the Sociology/Anthropology degree at UFV (still with an extended minor in Theatre).
When I was offered the position this summer of “Volunteer Coordinator” for GIVE International (whom I volunteered with in 2007); my heart leapt at the opportunity to get my feet wet in my first PAID work in International Development. I arrived in balmy Uganda in June, and arrived back to the town/city of Jinja at the source of the River Nile (about 2 hours from the capital of Kampala); the same city I volunteered in in 2007. I stay in a Guesthouse run by Busoga Trust; a water development NGO from the UK. It’s always full of people from around the world who are working on different projects, which is an excellent setting to meet people and make connections.
Basically I am in charge of the ‘First Time To Africa’ Canadian volunteers who come over for various amounts of time as I did two years prior. My job is not to smother them with rules and regulations or babysit them; but to help orient them with Jinja, with Uganda, with the people and culture. I set up work/volunteer placements for whatever their field of interest is- GIVE has links in several different health clinics (we get a lot of nurse and doctor volunteers), schools, and orphanages. I arrange where they stay, help out with transport and direction for the first week-ish and kind of set them off on their way- always checking in on them to see how they are doing and if they need any help with projects or dealing with sticky-interesting-African situations. I am in charge of working with the GIVE finances here in Uganda, communicating daily with my boss in Ontario and working closely with our local Ugandan staff (of which we currently have 3 paid and another handful of volunteers who help out when needed). I constantly am in meetings with people- directors from our placements, potential new placements, possible link organizations and projects. The focus of GIVE is to support locally run projects that could use an extra set of hands, especially in Jinja’s surrounding villages.
All the while I’ve been doing this the past few months, I have also been working under the supervision of UFV Sociology instructor Stephen Piper (via email!) on a field study for Sociology credits on the concept and phenomena of “Volunteerism”; doing an analysis of different NGO’s I come across everyday here in Uganda. This will work in my favor for a concentration in Global Development Studies (to add on to my Sociology/Anthropology major), when the program gets off the ground at UFV.
While I’ve been here this second time around I’ve thought a lot of the future and what I plan to do, and why honestly I am here in the position I am in. To many people it may seem ‘noble’ or ‘worthy’ or ‘Good Samaritan’-like work that I’m doing; but to me it really is a career path that I actually, truly enjoy and love to do. If I really enjoyed and loved working with computers, then I would do that; but I don’t. I love working abroad. I love different cultures. I love the adventure, I love the people. I love the confusions and the frustrations that come with the cultural boundaries and differences I have to work through in order to do my job well. I like living under a mosquito net with the geckos, fishing the ants out of my honey and riding on the back of motorcycles through bumpy red dirt roads and mud hut villages that most people only see in World Vision ads on TV. I like believing that somehow, something positive is happening, and I like being a part of it."

cheers from "The Field"
xxx vicks.

goat trip!!

2009-08-24T05:25:00.000-07:00

long story short about this photo.
betsy, the girl who was doing my job before me, did some work out in a village called bugembe (near jinja) with this grandmother called jaja aminah, who apparently was looking after 19 orphans. i think what happened was one of jaja's goats died, so betsy's mom (a grade 2 teacher in ontario) and her grade 2 class raised enough money to buy jaja 2 more goats.
guess who got the job of finding and buying the goats and delivering them???
(well, actually i got some local help...)
but it was a riot. and jaja, now apparently looking after 34 orphans (!!!!!??) was estatic with her new twin goats.
in the photo is me and tanu, with jaja, the goats, and a lady who was helping jaja out.
there you go betsy, i did it!!!
xxxx vicks.

friends from canada

2009-08-20T07:56:00.000-07:00

two years ago here in uganda i met this girl- lindsey seegmiller, and another girl, leslie lappalinen, both from ontario. the three of us got super close and have been trips back and forth across the country to meet up in the past few years since. this was the best reunion though- back IN JINJA, where we met, lindsey and her two friends devyn and eric were on an east africa tour and stopped in jinja for a few nights.
epic!

a mournful update

2009-08-19T02:05:00.000-07:00

baby kelly died the other night.

basically, she had a huge heart defect, or hole in her heart, plus the pnemonia and whatever else she had, plus being 2 months pre-mature.

she was doing better, which was the hard part. my volunteers and the staff at sonrise had been taking shifts with her, she was monitered and fed by a tube 24/7. brenda, the doctor volunteer who is here with her son tanu, especially got close with her...and brenda had a difficult time with the lack of hospital facilities here to deal with such a case.

basically she went into respiratory distress the other night (monday) and stopped breathing- brenda gave her CPR and mouth to mouth, tanu apparently lost it and started hyperventilating and throwing up and they ran out of their room at zamo (where we have been taking care of her, to not expose her to the other children's illnesses in her frail state), screaming for someone to drive them to the hospital, running out into the street and luckily a neighbor was pulling out their driveway and took them to the children's hospital, where brenda nd the doctor tried to continue CPR but it was too late.

i was at damali's with kelly and sarah for their last night, we were having a big dinner with them and the kids, when damali got a phone call from tanu freaking out saying emergency..emergency... damali got off the phone and immediatly broke into the biggest wail i've ever heard- which set off the ENTIRE staff, as well as kelly and sarah...I got back on the phone to tanu who was weeping and hysterical and tried to get him to breathe and tell me exactly what was going on and finally he could calm down enough to tell me that yes, she was dead, and they were at the children's hospital and to come immediatly.

so i had to tell the news to the staff that yes, she was dead. the noise of hysteria that emerged from that household that evening should never be heard by human ears and I tried to hold myself together as someone needed to organize this chaos- damali threw her phone at me and i ordered a car to come get us, called the probation officer who brought us the baby to meet us at the hospital and notify the relatives... notifyed the other volunteers, our boss, damali's friends... packed up everyone's things and basically pushed them all into a vehicle.

we arrived at the hospital and ran to the emerg room, where brenda was there with the dead baby...the screaching ugandan woman can do is the loudest noise i've ever experienced. brenda was actually calm, i think in a state of shock..but also because she is a doctor and knew the medical history and the likelyhood of survival..but still she got emotionally attatched. a few hours later at the hospital still we got word from the probation that the father could not come and pick up the body , so damali and some other staff got a vehicle and took the body out to the village. the rest of us went home.

yesterday morning sarah and kelly left for the airport, on quite somber terms as you can imagine. i took brenda and tanu to meet a van in town to bring us out to the village for the burial. the amazing thing was the community support network that exists for damali- growing up herself in an orphanage has given her a huge community of "brothers and sisters" who were all there- as well we stopped to pick everyone adn anyone who slightly knew of this baby.. adn stopped at the grandmothers house in Iganga, about 1 hour away from jinja.

the burial process was an entire day long event. the guys dug a grave in the back undeneath some banana and coffee trees, and put in bricks and poured in cement...we had stopped on the side of the road to buy a coffin as well. 16 year old tanu grew up immensley that day. he mixed the cement, and dug the grave, he helped place in the coffin and he stood up and spoke a few words at the ceremony. (as did myself and brenda, the pastor, the father and the probation officer). we finally drove home about 4pm.

what i think was the hardest for me, was watching the volunteers go through their first experience with first hand african death that happens every day here...but such a surreal culture shock to them. the same with damali- since sonrise opened they have had nothing but good luck and amazing things happen...so to have the first bad thing happen really threw them for a loop...it was a reality check of life here, and i believe that the honeymoon period is now over- for sonrise, and for the volunteers. which in a way is good to happen- as damali is going to have to be strong for this kind of thing is going to happen to her if this is truly what she wants to do with her life.

please continue to pray for damali and the staff at sonrise as they deal with their first child death at the home, and for the volunteers.

kelly victoria!

2009-08-11T13:35:00.000-07:00

the newest addition to Sonrise babies home...Came in today, 3 weeks old and very pre-mature and malnurished and very sick. the mum died a week after giving birth and the father cannot take care of her. she had no name, and since kelly (one of my volunteers) and i were there damali decided to name her after us!

please be in prayer for this new little one as she is going to need extra special attention to bring her back to health.

alex and i on safari

2009-08-11T00:51:00.000-07:00

big grins for big game rides in murchisen falls national park.

volunteers....

2009-08-11T00:36:00.000-07:00

thought i would try and post more photos of people i've been spending time with. this is kelly, miko and sarah, the morning miko and james left jinja.

claire and vicki paint

2009-08-11T00:20:00.000-07:00

claire, jem and i helped charlie paint room for music and art at the school he was teaching at...

baby stephen

2009-08-11T00:09:00.000-07:00

say hello and wave goodbye

2009-08-09T01:58:00.000-07:00

When I pick up new volunteers, it’s always interesting to hear their first impressions when they get off the plane, and then on the 3 hour drive home to Jinja from Entebbe. Sometimes they ask me a million questions on the way home, sometimes they are silent. I try and not overwhelm them with information unless they ask for it- because usually the first day everything I say is erased by jet lag and then repeated the next morning.

On Wednesday I picked up Brenda, a doctor, and her son Tanu (16) from Vancouver Island. We drove all the way back to Jinja almost in silence, but not uncomfortable silence. It was silence of them watching everything go by out the window, absorbing their first taste of Africa. When its times like these, I either get bored and start texting people telling them I’m on my way home, or I force myself to look outside and pretend it’s my first time in Africa again as well.

It’s the things now that I take for granted, or that I have become so accustomed to that I don’t notice that they are ‘different’ from ‘normal’ anymore. Things like the burning smell of garbage and plastic sizzling on the side of the road. Like the charcoal fires burning and cooking maize and cassava. Or that the bunches of green bananas aren’t really bananas, but matoke, which tastes light an odd version of mashed potato when cooked. Or that there are no traffic lights, or stop signs, just a few roundabouts in the capital city. I no longer think that women carrying everything including the kitchen sink on their head is fascinating (that is if they had kitchen sinks, or kitchens, for that matter). I no longer notice that the fields we cruise by are of sugarcane and tea and coffee, things that don’t exist in Canada. I have stopped wondering what air conditioning might feel like and what I would do if my back wasn’t constantly a pile of sweat. I no longer think in conversions of shillings to dollars or worry about getting run over by 6 million bicycles and motorcycles and cars and busses when I casually walk across the street.

When a coming volunteer asked me if there was anything I wanted them to bring me from Canada that I missed, I could not think of one single thing. (except people, of course)

When we got to Jinja I did the usual with the new people- settle them into the hotel, walk them into town, exchange money, point out good places to eat, go over jinja facts and street smarts..meet Damali for lunch, meet the other volunteers and staff, take them around the market and show them how to use their money…organize everyone I know/volunteers/friends/staff to meet at 2 Friends for their first meal out so they can meet a bunch of people..and make it start to feel more like home than a foreign country.

On Friday I did it all again- back to Entebbe, back to the airport with my GIVE international t shirt, a sign with the new volunteers names on it, and a big ‘Welcome to Uganda’ smile plastered on my face. Larry and Mike (father and son team) arrived in good spirits though they were (and still are) minus one bag…

The goodbyes come into play this weekend as well again. I have said goodbye to too many people to count so far this summer and I feel as though this weekend marks the last of the original “crew” I met and hung out with when I first arrived in June; as Mike left yesterday and India leaves Monday (Claire and Jem left last weekend- following Charlie, Mark, Alex….etc etc) . Of course this meant we had epic adventurous last nights on Friday and Saturday; and now I will have to remember that I’m actually quite an independent lady and will survive the next month without those I’ve been with everyday for the past two.

Maybe that means I’ll get more schoolwork and work work done before I return to Canada for the mass craziness of moving/starting classes/attending weddings/trying to deal with jetlag which will ensue within the first few days of touching down in Penticton on September 7th.

less than a MONTH! yikes...
vicks xxxx

work? yes indeed...

2009-07-28T01:33:00.000-07:00

I have gotten a few comments from people reading my blog that they think all I am doing is having fun here and wonder what I actually do for work! I just smile and laugh and say that basically my job is making sure that all the volunteers are healthy, happy and safe. In order to do that, mainly what my job entails are these kind of things...

picking up new volunteers from the Entebbe Airport (approx. 5 hour drive from Jinja), bringing them to Kampala to the Adrift office (the rafting company that GIVE is linked with) so they can meet Dennis, our main emergency contact in Uganda, pick up their mobile phones and continue driving to Jinja.

Once in Jinja my first responsibilities entail orientating them around town (show where to eat, where the internet cafes are, where you buy phone credit, exchange money, where to take out money), settling them into their houses/hotels/guesthouses (I am in charge of making and confirming bookings), giving them boda and mutatu transport education (always get on and off the boda on the left hand side as to not burn your leg from the exhaust pipe on the right hand side- how to argue with boda men for prices and not getting ripped off)

The first few days I get a car and driver to take me and the new volunteers around to our different placements. The volunteers visit each of the placements according to the interest they have requested (Ie. babies homes, schools, health clinics). Usually we can visit about 3 placements per day, as it takes time to go to them, meet the people in charge, make the contact and confirm the relationship, and make plans for volunteering which days they would like.

In the first few evenings especially I take them round to a few of the places we 'usually' go for dinners and drinks out, according to their prefernce of western vs indian vs african cuisine and entertainment. I am in charge of getting them to and from places safely for at least the first few days WITH me, and usually for the first week I am with them most evenings.

After the first week, most people are quite settled into a routine, know their way around and have met some people to hang out with and go to their houses, out for meals etc. From then on my position is to check in on them usually in the mornings and fix any issues/problems they are having with accomodation, travelling, transport, phones, money, etc (those are the usuals!) and generally be available when they want someone to hang out with, go shopping with, need advice about something or need to sort out and arrange a safari, rafting, or other touristy things. I have all the contacts with tourist companies,safaris and rafting (ADRIFT), so I get to make the phone calls and arrange everything- unless they want to do it themselves (some have a preference).

And it's been a pretty fast turnover for most of the summer so far- so usually I've had new people coming all the time so once I have some people settled, more arrive and the process begins again. right now I have a bit of a lull- I have 6 girls, one leaving tomorrow and one leaving thursday, and then more people coming August 5, 6 and 14th for the rest of the summer. the girls right now are quite settled into routine and I can see them off in the mornings, meet up with them at some point during the day or evening to debrief on how things are going, what they are thinking, or just to sit at the Adrift bar and have a drink at 3pm overlooking the nile (which is what I did yesterdy with Shelly- hey, if I'm with a volunteer doing what they want, it's work!)

Basically, I need to be able to be comfortable making friends with all types of people and personalities and be sensitive to what people want to do, think about Africa, etc and help them have the best experience possible. What I want to accomplish is for people to see the Uganda that I personally know and love...So they can spread the word of the wonderful place it is and raise some awareness back in Canada of things that are happening/need to happen over here.

So yes, I do have lots of fun. Sometimes too much fun. But I also work hard. :)
"Work hard, play hard"
which I believe is just as important to experience the local culture here, making memories by living the local life, and ways of having fun here in Uganda. Believe it or not- fun happens whereever you are in the world! imagine that. :) and to me, the fun HERE is quite often more fun than fun at home in Canada...hahahaha.

Love you all, hope that gave a decent briefing on the work I am doing here!

xxx vicks

a skin infection?

2009-07-28T01:12:00.000-07:00

The last few days I’ve noticed almost like a cigarette burn on my right arm. I thought it was some kind of bite, until it was there for a few days in this pretty little circle. Yesterday I told India that I thought I had a tropical disease and I was dying… She sarcastically told me that someone probably burned a cigarette into my arm while I was sleeping (the only person in the house that smoked was alex, and he left like, two weeks ago. because that would really happen anyways...). We were out at Damali’s in the afternoon and I asked her what she thought, she automatically said RINGWORM! Ewwwwwwwwwwww!! Okay, in all fairness ringworm is not ACTUALLY a worm but just a skin infection that most kids in the village have and is quite contagious, and as I’m around village children all the time it made sense. Not a big deal and you just need an antibiotic topical cream for it. India and I left to go to the Lordsmeade clinic to pick up some meds for one of the babies and asked about my “ringworm”.
The ladies at the front immediately said
“That’s not ringworm!”
“What is it then?”, I ask.
“It’s some kind of skin infection…”
Wow, that’s helpful, I think. Someone else comes out to see.
“It’s because you are white. see, if that happened on my skin you wouldn’t even see it, and I wouldn’t have even come to the clinic!”
Awesome. So because I’m white, you can SEE the infection..no wonder none of the kids ever get treatment from the clinic, because apparently if you can’t see it, it’s not there…
Everyone by now it talking and arguing over my skin and India and I are keeled over laughing, me wishing I had filmed this ridiculousness.
In the end, one of the ladies gave me a prescription for an antibiotic cream (a prescription being she wrote something down on a ripped piece of paper) saying if it doesn’t go away in three days, then go buy it.
Hilarious.

xxx
vicks

a flat tire on the landy at campsite!

2009-07-26T05:53:00.000-07:00

I think I blogged about this a little while ago- this was last weekend, when we went to leave campsite to go home one night in Mike's Landcruiser, we realized the tire was blown...we also quickly realized that we didn't have a jack big enough to sort the situation out, so about an hour and half and 5 Ugandans plus our 3 guys later...somehow they rigged something up and we got home... T I A, as we say...

xx vicks.
ps, i can only post one photo at a time becuase the internet will freak out if i try more than one. Appologies all around, but it is a feat just to get some up here!

James and Miko's last night- group photo.

2009-07-26T05:34:00.000-07:00

I happen to look riiiiiidiculous in photos taken at night. Why do I have a lazy eye when I get tired??

a photo of me with my eyes closed, with Nulu Gladys, from Sonrise

2009-07-26T05:22:00.000-07:00

a fair, a gig, missing tentpoles and another goodbye

2009-07-26T05:14:00.000-07:00

My friend Mike here at the guesthouse went on my blog the other day at work and told me that I need to update more frequently. So I'm going to work on that- especially becuase Mike has a wireless internet thing I can plug into my laptop now in the evenings and actually go online more often! HI MIIIIKKKKKEEEE GO BACK TO WORK AND STOP READING MY BLOG! hahahaha.

ok so recent happenings in Uganda!

There has been this massive "Agricultural Show/Fair" in town for the past week. apparently it's the 17th annual, but two years ago I had left town by the time it happened. This year I got to go..twice. The first time was a typical adventure- Lindsey, Laura, Kara and I went with Baby Justine to pick up oh, about 45 school children from her school in a nearby village, fit them ALL plus about 4 teachers into a 14 passenger local transport bus. let's just say that on it's own was a sight to behold! Of course, as we drove down the road one of the back tires blew, so we had to pull over, get everyone out of the van while a couple of Ugandan guys repaired it.. at last we pulled into the fair grounds in Jinja- into THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE AND SCHOOL CHILDREN and I'm just sitting there going "oh my..oh my..oh my....". Somehow we had to keep track of 45 kids in this insanity??? The day was sweltering, yet the kids were beside themselves with excitement to be there and filled with gratitude to be given one chapat and a baggie of juice for lunch. Laura was overwhelmed, as we talked about it over a beer at the end of the day back at Zamo. Laura is a teacher in Canada and just couldn't believe how well behaved the children here are/were during that madness, and was thinking of how her own students would have acted- gone in ten different directions as soon as we entered, whined about the heat, not enough lunch, not being allowed to go on rides..etc etc etc.

Take two on the fair was last evening, with a few friends Charlie and Claire and a schoolteacher Charlie works with. We went just as it was starting to get dark which Claire and I weren't too keen on- honestly there are thousands, we are the only white people, and I am clutching Claire's hand with one hand and my bag to my cheast with the other and making Charlie promise we will go after one drink with his collegue.. MADNESS! I will never complain about crowds at home again!

The missing tentpoles come in with Laura, Lindsey and Kara being on Safari this weekend and calling me distressed yesterday saying that the guide brought the wrong tentpoles for their tent........ I'm not even going to go into that, except that it's "So African" that it's worth mentioning briefly... (All being sorted out of course, as it does, but just one of those things....)

The band at Campsite was our friend Jared's last night, Campsite being the Nile River Explorers rafting start base, and known for a good fun evening..especially when there are lots of people and a good band playing music that everyone knows and can sing and dance to under the stars, and that's just what we did. It's really great seeing the volunteers make new friends and become comfortable here, as all the girls I have left are settling into routine and really starting to "LIVE" here...already saying the "I don't want to go home!!!" 's.

Another leaving party tonight at Reflections, as Charlie departs at 4am. He is sitting at the kitchen table right now making a guest list.. "who else do we even KNOW?!" he yells from the table to me in the living room as I type this. Today is one of those "last everything" days...last African meal at Highways, last boda ride,last night with a mosquito net... though I myself have 6 more weeks to go, I don't look forward to my own "last everything" day

a grand ugandan evening

2009-07-24T23:16:00.000-07:00

I thought would tell you about last night. As James and Miko are leaving today, last night we decided to have somewhat of a goodbye party for them out at Damali’s. I told Damali not to cook as I would bring out dinner for everyone- a normal thing to do in Canada, but in Uganda is an interesting situation. Take out? For over 20 people? What on earth are you going to bring? Rice and beans?

And that’s exactly what I brought!

During the afternoon my friends Mike, Charlie and I went to an African restaurant called highways that we frequent and ordered enough rice, beans, samosas, goat stew and chapatti for like 30 people. Then Mike and I went to the market and bought a ton of mangos, bananas, tomatoes and avocados and I spent a few hours making a few different salads to bring out. At 6:30pm we grabbed a crate of sodas from Zamo, piled people into a van and drove out to Damali’s. loads of people there- friends and staff at Sonrise, all our volunteers, GIVE staff, plus a few friends from my guesthouse- Jem and Mike, who’s it was there first time out at Sonrise. I’m always excited to bring new people out there as I think it’s such a wonderful place that is so full of life.

Honestly it couldn’t have gone any smoother. I feel like it made up for the dinner I tried to have with everyone at Zamo that just turned into such a nightmare! There was an obscene amount of food- everyone ate loads and there was enough leftovers that the staff don’t have to cook lunch today! We had a massive dance party, the babies stayed up with us eating sweets and prancing around to Rhianna and then some classic Ugandan tunes. We played games like copying each others dance moves around the circle and passing a cup around with things ‘to do’ in it, regarding dancing….so funny. So Ugandan. I made James give a speech, then Damali..and we all went around the circle saying something of encouragement to them. I believe my statement was, “thank you for being my easiest volunteers….” Hahahaha. Which they were, such a help to me in every way and I really will miss having them around. It’s always amazing to hear what other people think and feel and I couldn’t help but be proud of them, proud of working for GIVE international and excited for the future of this organization as I try to head up an expansion for the future…

We finally left around 10:30pm so they could maybe put the babies to sleep… sweaty and full from dancing and eating and laughing far too hard, we collapsed at home…Jem, Mike and I drinking tea on the porch marveling at what an amazing evening it was.

Bye James and Miko, you will be greatly missed!

Xxx vicks.

the city lights

2009-07-19T06:09:00.000-07:00

So have you been to a place like this?
To see your breath as it paints against the sky
The fever is near
I wish you were here

I'm thinking ambitious
I've got this feeling things will be alright
So go break a leg, right
Been given the green light
So go entertain them
They're waiting for you
They're waiting for you

So have you been to a place like this?
To see your breath as it paints against the sky
Feeling so right when things went wrong
The fever is near
I wish you were here

the latest.

2009-07-19T04:33:00.000-07:00

Latest happenings around Jinja with GIVE international that I have been slow to post about…

-I have had my first volunteers come and go! The Onotsky family from Kitchner, Ontario were here for just two weeks so they are back in Canada. Mike, Janice, Joseph and Jacob were a blessing to the GIVE placements, supporting Damali’s Sonrise Babys home, Home of Hope, St Florence, and God’s Gift Primary.

-My next volunteers to leave are James and Miko, who depart this Thursday. I will miss their friendship very much, and the fact that they were my first volunteers who arrived even before I did

- The rest of the volunteers I have right now are Sarah, Kelly and Shelly- whom arrived nearly two weeks ago now, and then three new girls I picked up last Wednesday from Entebbe- Lindsey, Kara and Laura. (What’s with all the girls??!) All are wonderful and adjusting to life in Uganda- most of them it is their first time abroad, so I’m understanding that it’s a big culture shock to get used to life here- something I’m unfamiliar with, but I am learning!

-I was extremely blessed to be able to go on Safari last weekend (thanks BOSS!!) to Murchisen Falls National Park with 5 of my volunteers (James, Miko, Shelly, Sarah and Kelly) as well as Alex and his volunteers (Jess, Sian, Caitlin) and a few friends of James and Miko’s., Jess and Amy. Alex and James were our token guys, so we split them up in the two vans! The trip was amazing, busy, and I’ve not slept more than 3 hours a night probably since the Safari… “work hard, play hard” is my motto here!

-An update on happenings at Sonrise Baby’s home- The Onosky Family bought a gas burner for the kitchen which will be a major help when heating up milk for the babies at night so they don’t have to wait around for the charcoal stove to heat up. They are taking in a new baby- Miko is generously supplying the funds for the bed and net for the new baby to come. Jesse and Amy have bought a few more beds for the guest room, so now they are equipped to have volunteers and more staff sleep over. I have brought over some clothes and books, and volunteers from other organizations- spreading the word of Sonrise!! Probably the biggest news is that Alex, through Bujigali Trust and him and his dad’s charity for supporting education- has decided and promised Damali that all of her children are going to be sponsored to go to school!! He pulled her aside the other day to tell her, and then she came inside and grabbed me to tell me. Alex had already told me he wanted to, but hearing it from her and the amazement and appreciation in her voice was almost more than I could handle.. I choked back tears and looked inside at Alex playing with Gladys, his favourite girl...and realized that Life and this job are all about the connections and relationships you make with people you meet, and the wonders that are happening and have happened already continue to blow my mind.

-The next few weeks I will have to say goodbye to some amazing friends I live with at Busoga Trust, as they are nearing the end of their stay. This morning as I stood in the kitchen eating a bowl of fresh pineapple and watching the ridiculousness of the morning routine with instant coffee and toast and people in pj’s re-enacting shenanigans of the night before when the landrover got a flat tire and there was no jack in sight big enough to change the tire…I realized how sad it is going to be when I am quite alone in this big house. Alex was the first to leave, Thursday morning at 5am. So, of course, we decided that sleep was unnecessary and had an amazing pig roast goodbye party for him at Lordsemeade, the Secondary School he works at, then played pool at 2 friends for hours before taking over the dance floor at casino club and then throwing his things in a duffel bag at 4am.

And for all these reasons and things I have mentioned, I will return again and again to this place until I own the beautiful house on the river by Damali’s that I eye up each time I walk by and live here for good.

(remember Brenda? here she is.....)

Xxxx vicks.

A Rabid Dog and my encounter with him.

2009-07-09T01:04:00.000-07:00

On Saturday night last weekend a group of us had been out for drinks and playing pool at Reflections (one of our regular hang-outs) and were back at Busoga sitting on the porch being ridiculous when I decided I'd had enough and went to walk home (As I was still living at Zamo hotel at the time). Usually someone walks me home, even though it's like 20 steps away but tonight I didn't care and said I'd go by myself.

So I've walked like, ten steps past the gate when I see a dog crossing the road in front of me. (Now, dogs in Uganda are not pets. They are either trained to kill security dogs, or they are rabid strays). So I freeze in my place. The dog notices and stops as well. My heart starts pounding and I start to back up slowly to the guesthouse to get someone to walk with me, when the dog growls, then snarls with his big teeth and then another dog appears and THEN THEY START BARKING AND RUNNING TOWARDS ME!! This is when I let out an ear-shattering scream, turn around and run like the wind back to the guesthouse gate, screaming the whole way (let's remember It's like, 2am) and banging on the gate for someone to open it.

Of course, everyone on the porch had heard me screaming, as well as Gideon (our gatekeeper) and were there yelling and freaking out, Alex and Mark yelling "WHERE'S THE GUY!? WHERE IS HE??! WHAT HAPPENED??!" as from my screams they assumed I had been attacked by someone and I slowed down enough to say that it was a dog.

Now yes, of course, they are scary around here, but according to the guys... I was a little ridiculous. Nevertheless I made them all walk me home. It's been 4 days and I'm pretty sure it's going to be the butt of all jokes for the rest of the summer.

"Hey Vicki..how's your doggie friend?" "Been chased yet today?"

funny funny, everyone. laugh it up. lets see what YOU would have done.

just another typical evening meal

2009-07-09T00:43:00.000-07:00

I thought I would tell a little story to show you how things run (or don't run) in Uganda.

Last night I decided to get a bunch of people together for dinner at Zamo, the hotel that our volunteers stay at ( I have now moved into Busoga Guesthouse,for those who know). For volunteers right now I have a family of four (Mike, Janice and their two boys Jacob-10 and Joseph-15), Shelly (31), Kelly (20), Sarah (22), James (23) and Miko (26). The family as well as the girls were there, and then I invited to pay for dinner for one of our Ugandan staff; Baby Justine and her two kids Zepohra and Gift. She also brought along two ladies that work with her. Wonderful right? Everyone together, happy times.

Now Zamo is famous for being slow service, but this night just topped it off. We all ordered and it was fine and lovely and then about an hour and half later I asked if our food was coming, "yes, just now, of course" is always their response. Another half hour passes as some food comes out, pretty much every order is wrong in some way (wrong sandwich, chips instead of rice, etc etc etc) and the boys and Mike's food didn't come at all, some mistake apparently...so another like hour passes before the boys get their food, after many trips by me to the kitchen pestering them, the boys getting tired and cranky (as it's now like 9:30pm), baby Justine's children falling asleep, me trying to keep everyone talking and visiting to pass the time..

finally everyone eats and I'm calling taxi to come and get the family and bring them home as well as some boda's to bring Justine and crew home, another 45 minutes passes... (what, are they driving from Kenya!??) as I'm on the phone to 2 other taxi's getting SOMEONE to come... finally one van comes and takes them all home..as the waiter comes up to me and says there is a problem with my bill (I had already paid for everyone) and I owe him more money... by this time I'm starting to loose it and pull him inside and demand to see the bill and the money I paid him, and another staff comes over to go over it and we are all arguing and adding and I have tears starting up when I finally gave in to paying half of what he wanted me to and I am furiously angry with them as ALL I WANTED WAS TO DO SOMETHING NICE FOR EVERYONE AND IT TURNED INTO SUCH AN AFRICAN GONG SHOW!!

I walked out of the restaurant and started bawling when my friend James (one of my volunteers) saw me and then saw these other taxi's start to show up that we had called like, 2 hours ago.... I guess James saw my face and he went and dealt with the drivers and then started to walk me home as I'm crying when Mike calls (the dad) saying the boys lost their room key, can I look for it at Zamo... James and I go back to the hotel and go on our hands and knees with our cell phone flashlights looking for this key which isn't there so I call the driver who brought them home and he found it in the car, so I told him to go back to their guesthouse...and then one last call from Baby Justine saying she left her purse in the taxi and was freaking out but luckily Mike had assured me that they found it and had it for her.

this is now, like, 11pm.

OH. MY. GOODNESS.

James and I walked up to the porch of Busoga where all our friends were visiting and I collapsed on the couch next to Alex, wiping my face and laughing and remembering why T.I.A (This Is Africa) and that I love it....most of the time.

the end.

Sonrise Babies home

2009-06-29T23:43:00.000-07:00

I may have spoken a bit about Damali’s new baby’s home- it is actually called Sonrise (I had forgotten). She is a good friend and fellow staff member of GIVE international with me. Damali started this baby’s home about 3 weeks ago, so like I said previously it is brand new and has nothing, except 9 children full time. She employs two women to stay the nights with her, and then about 4 others help volunteering during the day. One of the biggest things Damali and I talked about last week was the fact that she hadn’t yet taken her children in for HIV/AIDS testing, or gotten anything medical done. There is a free childrens hospital in town, but for some reason Damali is opposed to go there as she says the staff are terribly mean to children (I think this stems from when she herself was an orphan and was brought here) so she had yet to get any of the children tested; an extremely important thing to do as nearly all the children come from parents that have died from AIDS. Mainly, she was just terrified to find out.

Thankfully, I met an amazing guy from the UK named Alex who is staying at the guesthouse and was friends with my brother last summer here. He works at a school called Lordsemede Vocational in town, which is where a few of my friends two years ago worked. There is a health clinic attached to the school and Alex generously offered for us to bring all the children there for testing. So yesterday Miko, James and I rented a mutatu bus (local 14 person bus) and driver and picked up all the children and staff members, and brought them over to the Lordsemede clinic. Damali would not come, she was so scared and nervous to hear the results of her children, so she stayed at home and paced and prayed. Alex and our other friend India met us at the gate and up we went to the clinic. The lab techs stayed overtime to help us out and after about an hour, all 9 were done and tested. Alex went in to find out the news from the lab techs and came back to a very anxious me. I searched his eyes for some news as he tried to contain a smile and then just said, “They’re fine. They’re all fine”.

“Fine?!” I asked, “like, they all tested negative?!” He laughed and told me again and again, and we laughed and rejoiced with disbelief with all the mums, James, Miko, India and the techs. One of the mums called Damali and tell her excitedly, and then we all trooped back down the hill to the mutatu to take them home. We passed around the sheet of paper that said the kids names and next to that, the word negative. Ha!

Alex and India came back with us to Sonrise to meet Damali and see the home. She met us at the gate and tried to contain her excitement, but every few minutes she would run up to me and whisper in my ear , “I can’t believe it. it’s a miracle. Considering their backgrounds..this should not be possible.” We took some group photographs outside to mark this day as a wonderful, truly miraculous day. Finally, the crew of us left and took some short cuts walking through the villages to the main road to catch a boda into town for dinner.

As we sat around a table at Baraza waiting for our dinner, we raised our ice cold Nile Specials to a very momentous day in all our lives.

you are most welcome back to uganda!

2009-06-27T07:20:00.000-07:00

Finally, I am here.

It took far too many flights and layovers and I officially hate flying.Minor detail and price to pay for being in Uganda again. In the last week I have re-discovered my love for this country.

I arrived Tuesday afternoon into a sweltering 30 degree humid world where time doesn’t matter and cold beer is dirt cheap. I was picked up by my Ugandan co-worker Emmanuel and we drove to Kampala where I met up with Dennis, whom runs Adrift Rafting (GIVE international is partnered with them). After picking up my cell phone, getting some notes and info from Dennis and saying hi to the Adrift staff, we drove to my hometown of Jinja, about 2 hours west? Of Kampala. I passed out the entire drive. That evening I met my first two volunteers, who got here a few days before me. James is from Chilliwack, (of all random places to be from..) and Miko is from Surrey. So, that’s pretty funny. We have mutual friends all over the board (James knows Shantani and Stephen and a few others from theatre, Miko used to work with the West’s at Camp Charis.) they are 23 and 26, super chill and good to hang out with, so we have been doing lots of visiting. My next volunteers come on Monday morning (a family with two younger boys) and then the week after that I’ve got three girls (20/22/32). It’s going to be a busy overlap.

The next few days Emma took me around Jinja to all of the newer placements we have for volunteers that I haven’t seen yet from two years ago. There are some exciting things going on, but lots and lots of help is needed. Some of these placements are:

Home of Hope (Tentpeg Ministries)- a home for disabled and abandoned children. This is shattering to your heart and soul. Most children have Cerebral Palsy, and other things I don’t know what they are and can’t pronounce. There’s no toys and not many blankets. There are beds with mosquito nets, thank goodness. They have a few old ratty wheelchairs that were donated, most kids in them just sit in them in the same room all day long. There’s barely any money- so the most basic medicine is a struggle.

Damali’s baby home- Damali is a wicked 23 year old Ugandan girl who was raised in Good Shephard’s Fold orphanage (one of our placements) and Ryan, my boss, has known her since she was a kid. Now she’s decided to open her own babys home (what orphanages are called). She has rented a house, and had donation money to get some bunk beds. That’s about it. She has maybe 15 children and 5 staff with her helping. The biggest thing is money, as it always is and there is no money for medicines or toys, so there is the cement floor for the children to play on, or the grass outside. We are arranging to take all her children into a clinic for HIV/AIDS testing as that hasn’t been done yet either.

God’s Gift Primary- this school is owned/run by a wonderful woman named Baby Justine, who works for GIVE international as well. Her and her husband got the piece of land with a small building on it for their wedding, and as they already had a place in jinja they decided to put a school on the property for the village children of kitigoma (about 10 min. outside Jinja). As a rural village school, there again is not money and Baby Justine pours everything she has (which isn’t much…) into it. the biggest thing right now is they have started building new latrine’s but ran out of funds half way through..so they are still using this old holes that has started pouring out everywhere, so they’ve tried to come up with a system of where you can pee/poo. There are about 100 children here.

New Victory primary- this school has a lot more than God’s Gift, but still isn’t a lot. It’s much bigger, and they have a huge field to grow their own maize and potatoes, and hoping that when they have the money they can grow beans as well, so the school will be self-providing for meals. About 20 of the students here are orphaned, so there is a small room with bunks where they sleep at the school. There are some construction projects that could be worked on that we are looking at, like putting in windows/shutters and finishing the new latrine’s as well.

Visiting all those and several others I didn’t mention has taken up the majority of my time. However, I have had time to visit Welcome Home, the orphanage I worked at 2 years ago. What a shock, to see how much the children and babies have grown in 2 years, how many have gone back to their families or been adopted, and the biggest shock of all. When all the toddlers came running out of the house to see me, one of the workers asked me if I could pick out Brenda, my favourite baby from 07 whom I saw from her most unbelievable near death state when she was dumped on our front step.. (check out some old blog posts to read about Brenda). The worker called for Brenda, and a chubby little girl came running up to me. This could not be Brenda- no WAY!! But it was. All the workers came around while we waited to see if she would have some recognition for me- and would you believe it- she did. It took a few minutes of her studying my face with a frown, and then like a light switch went off her face lit up and her arms were thrown around me and I carried her around for a good hour while I visited with the workers. It’s wonderful and truly a miracle from her state just two years ago. Amazing what can happen when you actually feed a child.

I’m unfortunately not staying at the guesthouse I was at last time and wanted to be in again, I’m at Zamo hotel (for those who know) which is right next door, though definitely not the same vibe as the guesthouse. However I have been over there for tea with Annette(the woman who owns it) and met some good people who are there, thank goodness..we had an epic Jinja night last night from Nile Reflections (formerly Ginger on the Nile) to Cool Breeze, and of course Sombrero’s… dancing till the early hours of the am.

Have I mentioned ever that a 500 ml beer is 2000 shillings, (roughly a dollar)?

I love my job.

an interesting thought on social change

2009-06-05T09:54:00.000-07:00

photograph: lindsay seegmiller, ghana '08

"this year, north america will spend approx. 17 billion dollars on makeup. according to world bank and UN studies, it would only take 15 billion to feed every child and make sure one doesn't die from poverty every two seconds"

-craig kielburger, founder of Free the Children, the leading youth driven charity.

the 2009 debut

2009-06-03T19:19:00.000-07:00

photograph: kettle valley tressle, summerland, bc. summer 2008. my feet. someone else' sweet graffiti.

"GIVE INTERNATIONAL is a Canadian-based charitable trust working in relief and development. It is committed to providing well-organized and well-researched volunteer placements for individuals willing to share their expertise within our health, education, and child development programs.
This is accomplished through placing our volunteers on projects where GIVE INTERNATIONAL has built strong relationships, and has been able to arrange the necessary logistics needed for a successful, meaningful, and safe placement."

i'm going BACK to africa!- something i've been waiting for since i left.

i am looking forward to taking the position of volunteer coordinator for give international this summer in uganda - leaving june 20th and returning september 8. thank you for coming here and following the journey !

if you are a volunteer, check out the links i have posted on the right hand side. they will give you some useful info on uganda stats and situations as well as options for things to do, places to go..

if you are wondering if there is a way you can get involved this summer with our programs, please check out the website that i have linked in the above paragraph for give, and if coming over isn't something thats possible for you, please consider partnering with us in purchasing a 'family kit'; which can be bought for only $50- which directly goes to buying a bed matress, mosquito net, cooking pots, soap and food staples for a family in need in a rural village- the best part is that myself and the volunteers coming over this summer get to be the ones to buy and deliver these supplies so you can see your dollars tangibly at work.make cheques out to GIVE international and either give it to me, or mail directly to GIVE in ontario.

wonderful. thank you for your support, please keep checking this site for upcoming information when i have a more insightful brainwave to write something interesting.... until then, be excited for things that are happening! haha weeeeeee!

best day !

2007-07-11T09:53:00.000-07:00

i began sponsoring a child through compassion international about 2 years ago(maybe more now) when i was in new zealand. she was from rwanda, and about 5 years old. i got it in my brain that i was going to meet her someday. and today that someday ACTUALY came.

leslie and i got picked up this morning at 8:30 and driven out to the village/project where pelagie and her family live. we were met with hugs, kisses, photos taken, ...all the staff of the project, plus pelagie and her3 brothers, 2 sisters and both her parents. leslie and i were guests of honor and treated so special...we had a big meeting and prayer and gift giving...leslie and i had brought the family things like flour, cooking oil, a few toys and cookies and candy for the kids and some other things..and the mother had made both leslie and i these amazing banana leaf bags.

pelagie is beautiful. she is now 7 years old and in P1 (about grade 1 or 2) and excells in maths(thats where we differ), loves playing ball with her friends and collects the water for her family... being the sponsored child she holds alot for her family with all the other siblings and parents...she was shy when we met her, but after some sweets and tickling and blowing bubbles together...we got some smiles and giggles out of her...and the hoards of children and teens and adults peering in the window to watch the excitment.

i can't express how i felt on the way home. neither les or i said a word for the 3 hours drive. perhaps it was the celine dion tape that played on repeat for the whole time. or maybe the scenery and passing mass grave after genocide memorial after children walking home from school or women carrying clay pots on their heads or prisoners ploughing the fields or..................................................................................................................

gorilla trekking!

2007-07-08T23:57:00.000-07:00

so saturday morning atfer good ol' community clean up (read the next blog) we finally got on a crampted mutatu to ruhengeri, the town at the base of parc national de volacans(where the mountain gorillas are). after we confused boda boda drivers and got taken to a couple different places that we didnt ask for, they finally understood where we wanted to go and we got taken to this little back alley building with a tiny cramped office for the ORTPN. (office regionale de touriste parc national...or something like that). which made me laugh because the ORTPN is supposed to be, according to lonely planet, the big office where all the gorilla trekking stuff is done and here was this eentsy weentsy dirty office with one desk and a few posters. whatever the case, leslie charmed the officer with her lovely french accent and we got hooked up with a place to stay and a guide for the next morning. the place we stayed at (called touist rest house) left something to be desired..like maybe a toilet that flushed more often or a sink that water would turn off, or maybe a light that didnt disco you to death before actualy turning on...BUT IT WAS CHEAP and we flat out exhausted (stayed up with the people we met a leeeettle late the night before) and fell asleep at 6pm. hahaha. we woke up at 5:30am and were picked up and driven in a landcruiser about an hour to the base of the volcanoes mountains. this is the start point for trekking. there are 56 trekking permet sold per day, so quite soon after we arrived there were loads of tourists from all ages and nationalities.

i'm just going to stop here and let my personality shine through and tell you that the best part of the day(besides seeing the gorillas) was that there was REAL LIVE COFFEE FOR FREE!! FROM A REAL LIVE COFFEE POT MADE WITH REAL COFFEE GRANULES AND A REAL FILTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!! AND i could drink as much as i wanted AND there were nice flush toilets.
honestly, it doesnt take much to thrill me anymore. i would have be satisfied leaving right then and there.

ok so anyways we got into a group with 6 other people(who mostly all work in kigali for the Millenium Village project...if you've read jeffory sachs 'the end of poverty' or stephen lewis' 'race against time' you'll know what i'm talking about and how dang cool a job THAT would be) anyways, we chose a group of gorillas to visit and a guide showed us photos and told us edicate(sp?) about the visit and whatnot. then we drove another..30 minutes to the edge of the rainforest and started to hike. it wasAWESOME. so lush, so tiny paths that werent really paths, you really felt like you were hardcore. about 2 hrs hiking we found the 'group 13'. they are truly phenomenal creatures. there are only 720 mountain gorillas left in the world and they are all found in these mountains in east africa- bordering on the DRC and uganda. i thought it was trulyneat beacuse it was the same gorillas and area that the legend dian fossey did her work with /(watch 'gorillas in the mist'). they are beautiful and majestic and terrifying and gentle all in one. we saw mums, MASSIVE MANLY SILVERBACKS, and 2 week-2 year old babies chasing each other and pounding their chests and racing up trees. wow was it cool. i dont think i can try to describe it anymore. we took loads of photos and videos and got a certifcate saying we 'graduated' as mountain gorilla trekkers.

we got on a bus back to kigali strait away and the drive was breathtaking...i love rwanda. what an amazing place. i didnt even notice how full my bladder was or how revoltingly dirty my pants and hiking boots were or how many bugs and pieces of forest had taken root in my hair until i jumped in the shower at our hotel and realized i wasnt really that tanned after all...i saw it all wash down the drain. ewwwww. but it ended awesome with us staying in a nice hotel (thanks to leslie and her french charm) for cheap, drinking a rwandan beer and eating our first meal of the day. fantastic. now read the blog entry below this.

observing rwanda

2007-07-08T23:22:00.000-07:00

ok so apparently none of the computers in this posh internet cafe take usb ports, so i cannot post photos. however, leslie will probably figure out a way because she's just like that, so always check her blog as well (http://www.leslieinuganda.blogspot.com/)

the scenery in rwanda is phenomenal. it is SO different to uganda. uganda is pretty flat and sometimes dry and dirty...whereas rwanda is LUSH like i've never seen, and mountains that are breathtaking. maybe because i haven't seen real mounatins for 2 months. but honestly, we were driving through the parc national de volcans and i couldnt pry my face off the window. also every square inch of land is VERY fertile soil because of the volcanoes, so ever square inch of land is ..agricultured? it looks like a patchwork quilt and all over the mountains as well, which makes for extremely hard farming work i would think. but mind you, these people have endured far more in their lifetime than i will ever come to realize, so pushing a bicycle with 12 jerry cans filled with water up a hill with 8% incline for 10km is nothing.

kigali is an interesting city. we havent explored it too much but there are differences that i wasn't really expecting- small ones, but i think we've been in uganda long enough that we can pick them out quite easily. to the details such as women wear alot more jeans and pants here, and the stndard dress is much more modern. and women and men actualy walk around in public holding hands(you NEVER see that in uganda). the boda boda drivers here actualy wear helmets AND have one for YOU as well!(which kind of grosses me out more than feeling safer, seriously, how many peoples heads have been under that helmet?? HELLOOOOOO LICE!!!). the streets are CLEAN (rwanda has a law of once a month, a saturday morning is designated 'community clean up'. all the stores are closed and everyone..just...cleans. its so bizaare. but awesome. why dont we do that?). the roads here are fantastic compared to uganda. i havent felt carsick once! apparently after the genocide fo 1994 kigali in particular was showered with loads of money to build up the city and economy again and it sure shows. honestly- someone put some money into uganda....it more than needs it. but in turn- we have found rwanda much more pricey than uganda. i guess they need to keep these nice roads nice. and there are NO backpacker hostels. what the??! just hotels, and most of them expencieve. we've found a few that arent too bad and have actualy had some pretty good luck with eric(the man who runs one of the hotels) taking a fancy to leslie and therefore getting us killer deals at a nicer place across the street from his hotel. (i told him she was engaged and back off, but that seems to make him laugh harder. i dont think he understands my pigeon french. good thing leslie is fluent en francais, that has saved our asses many times already)

all in all so far- people are friendly, food is good (mostly the same local food as uganda, minus street vendors here..i think they are illegal, which is too bad for our wallets. and not alot of fruit which surprises me. we are used to eating a whole fresh pineapple every morning. im feeling deprived with just bananas) most people speak french (again, hooray for leslie) or kinyarwanda (whcih we dont have a clue of anything). and a tad of english. today we are checking out the city more or less and meeting up with the guys we met the other day(who have been gorilla trekking in the DR congo..which, btw, the UN has just posted a big fat notice saying DONT GO TO THE DRC RIGHT NOW, so we are hoping they'll come back alive today) and then tomorrow visiting the genocide memorials, churches and the hotel des mille collines..and wednesday we go to the compassion site to meet my girl and her family.

ok...on to gorilla trekking. cept this will be read second, even though i posted it first. grrr. will i ever get the hang of blogging.

"be the change you want to see in the world" - ghandi

2007-07-04T00:22:00.000-07:00

“ God is in the slums,

in the cardboard boxes where the poor play house.

God is in the silence of a mother who has infected her child with a virus that will end both their lives.

God is in the cries heard under the rubble of war. God is in the debris of wasted opportunity and lives,

and God is WITH US… if we are with them”

– bono

closing time

2007-07-03T23:50:00.000-07:00

closing time

every new beginning comes from some other beginning’s end.

Closing time

Time for you to go home to the places you will be from
…………………………………………………………….

i learned how to dance ' calipso' with leslie and the TASO drama/dance group the other day

what IS this thing around my waist anyways?

good friend charlie lifting herself into a kayak that's attatched to the roof at the ADRIFT rafting base, where we celebrated CANADA DAY the other night...making all our british friends celebrate with us.

these are some of the good friends we live with....bruce, with les

me, with will, pete and sam...

leslie, pete and i on a school bus...

great friend and welcome home director ESTHER!!!! my little porto rican...she is seriously 4'11. i love her anyways. ;)

and of course, my other half leslie

thank goodness i don't have to say goodbye to HER today as well!

Leslie and I leave town tomorrow morning for the capital city of kampala for the night and then jump on a 10 hr bus ride to neighboring country of Rwanda- to the capital of Kigali. I am immensely excited… I have received confirmation in the past few days that we WILL get to meet my sponsor child who lives in Rwanda! I was unsure if it was actually going to happen- but it looks like it is in the cards for us. We are SO pumped… we are going shopping for new dresses, toys and food for pelagie and her family to bring to the compassion international project site they live at just outside of Kigali. I get choked up just thinking about meeting her- this little 7 year old girl that has been able to go to school and her family to eat because of a meager $30 a month. I’m so stoked that this is one dream that’s become reality………how surreal.

I’ll return to kampala after about 10 days for a few remaining nights with leslie and some other good friends that are coming into the city to see us off…then I fly out to London, England for 3 days to be a tourist…luckily I have some friends that will be around that live in London that are going to show me the sights ! And then I will fly into Vancouver on july…19th I think?

Time has flown by as it usually does. What to say when leaving a place and heading for another? Leaving part of my heart in yet another country? Yet Africa has GIVEN me a part of my heart- a new part that I could not have received if I had not traveled here.

And to answer your question- yes, I will be back.

“when Jesus commanded us to care for the widows and orphans, He wasn’t speaking in metaphor. He really meant it. In Africa, that’s the greatest thing anyone could do”-jena lee, hope in the dark

bet you don't see these headlines in the summerland review!

2007-06-28T23:39:00.001-07:00

YES THEY ARE!!!!!!!! well no...they are exellent drivers, they are MAD..and if anyone drove like they do here in canada, we'd all be dead on the road within 5 minutes. but here, everyone drives crazy so everyone is used to it.

briefly- the karimojoa region is northern uganda that is severley sketch right now. IDP camps are nearing i think...60? (internally displaced persons) basically thousands and thousands of refugees that have fled their homes in southern sudan from the LRA(Lords resistance army) are in these camps in northern uganda. karimojong people make up 80% of the street people in kampala(the capital city) and most of the street kids here in jinja. watch out too, because some areas in karimoja are still practicing canibalism.

if you are following the southern sudan/northern uganda crisis.....

over half of the students writing uni enterance exams in my area were found with fraud-ed papers/copied papers they turned in. how unfortunate, but maybe the gov't should focus on making PRIMARY school education free- or else there won't BE ANYONE to take the uni enterance exams because noone's even gotten through primary school.

i try and buy a newspaper every few days to try and keep up-to-date with the happenenings of this country and the surroundings ones. sometimes i die laughing of some of the ridiculously blunt and sketchy articles and letters to the editor, and sometimes i nearly cry becuase you would NOT hear headlines like this back home. i'm bringing home most of these papers so you can see them. there is so much going on that even i'm not really aware of after living here for two months. i still feel so ignorent sometimes. if you an see this above one, it's the latest population stats. ones that stuck out to me were "1.6% of people own a car, 5.5% a telephone" or "10,000 street kids in uganda" or "60% of pupils don't complete primary school"

jinja town

2007-06-28T23:09:00.000-07:00

here are a few photos from "around town". i don't really know what the population of jinja is, but im guessing maybe penticton size? however its spread out like mad with all the surroundng villages and sub-county's and districts...this place is split up all over the place, i can't keep track. above is a shoe store window.

i like this one- got this bicycle boda( called 'piki piki') is a slower form of transport. you sit on the seat on the back. i never take them as i'm self concious of when they are huffing and puffing going up a long hill and you are suddenly very aware of how heavy you are on that back seat.

so, accordng to the latest poll, only 5% of ugandan's have telephones. thus these little booths that are EVERYWHERE..even in the smallest villages. they boast a landline and you pay however much money to make a call. mobile phones are extremely popular though, as you can only do 'pay as you go' and thus you wont have a bill at the end of the month you can't pay.

this is one of the art studios we go to quite often to see local work. people are so bloody talented here there are paintings and sketchs and drawings for sale EVERYWHERE and its really neat because quite often the artist is actualy there and will take you to behind the store where his studio is.

this is leslie writing in red dirt. cool.

this is the field across the street from welcome home, where we take the older toddlers every afternoons to run off some energy. however these are not our toddlers, these are some shool boys have 'football' (soccer) practice. soemtimes i want to join in, but i know i would get trampled. these guys are GOOD.

team east africa

2007-06-28T01:55:00.000-07:00

)
i can't count how many photos i have of the two of us- but i'm sure it will take up half of my photos album (maybe i shoudl make more friends?) hahaha. LINDSEY- we love you and miss you..dont feel left out;i thought i would dediate a post of my dear friend leslie lappa-lafhuhdfdisf. (i can't pronounec her last name, or spell it). ANYWAYS. i seem to be blessed with amazing girlfriends wherever i go and i am SO thankful to have leslie attached to my hip (and i to hers) most everyday. we have yet to fight, we laugh pretty consistantly and have a newspaper poster on our bathroom door of two HOT soccer players from the real madrid team. we eat , sleep, travel, live, walk..everything except work together during the day (she is at TASO- the aids support organization) while i am at welcome home.

the first three photos are, of course, out of order, but maybe that makes them funnier to look at. i personally like the squatting one best. (we are pretending to jump into the nile) the last one is from sipi falls adventure last weekend. we leave jinja in ONE WEEK TODAY (its thursday) for our adventure to rwanda- where we will take up our backpacks and trek the jungle to the endangered mountain gorillas, HOPEFULLY meet my compassion SPONSOR CHILD!!! and visit the kigali genocide memorials before we head back to uganda for a last few days together before i fly to london and then home.

ah yes, travelling, meeting people, making friends that turn into life-long kindred spirits....(sob sob...) cut the sap vicki. it's not in your character. (usualy....)

thanks les, i love you!

water shortage

2007-06-24T22:41:00.000-07:00

friday morning we had a note written on the blackboard in the house saying "water shortage and won't be more til monday...use spareingly!!" . there was also a note above the hot water tank switch we turn on for showers that told us to not shower. great. so, leslie and i haven't showered since thursday (it's now monday). which usualy, if i was at camp or even at home wouldnt be that unusual. BUT i am covered in so many layers of red dirt it's starting to match my hair. and the neat factor that our toilet stopped flushing, only AFTER the fact of the matter that we used it. (our bathroom door is now closed)...is really not so neat at all.

people were complaining about it at breakfast and my friend matt was trying to tell us to just sponge bath and then dump a water bottle on your head... leslie and i were walking downtown just now and she was saying how gross she felt, i was saying how i'd love to flush our toilet when it hit me that in the midst of LIVING in a country, a city that probably 95% of the people don't have running water EVER..i can still think like a westerner. i still want my shower. i don't want to use a long drop or a squatter. i want my flush toilet. even though my next door neighbors are outside bathing each other in buckets right before my eyes, i am still somewhat desensitized to it.

interesting.
touche.

you'd think that my brain would stop functioning like that. but it hasn't.
and that's slightly embarrassing to me.

brenda

2007-06-21T04:17:00.000-07:00

oh brenda, jesus loves you brenda, oh brenda, jesus loves you.....

and vicki does too...

hairy lemon and the travelling life

2007-06-19T22:52:00.000-07:00

we went to this place called hairy lemon last weekend. it's basically a little island in the middle of the river nile that some people have transformed into a little 'getaway'. its gorgeous, ridiculously out of the way but definatly worth it. on the insane boda-boda ride there, i got a rock in my eye and we spent most of saturday trying to wash it out by dumping a few litres of water onto it, and my shirt. i looked REALLY hot with a swollen eye and all the makeup washed off of one side fo my face. and ive never felt such pain in my life. seriously. go get a big rock stuck in your eye.

anyways. we met some sweet people and stayed up most of the night listening to music at the bar and dancing and just having a good time. i LOVE this part of travelling. you meet so many interesting people, doing all kinda of crazy things and taking life on so many adventures. sunday was spent lounging in a hammock, swimming in the nile, eating good food..lying in the banda and listening to the thunder storm roll in. on our car ride home the taxi had a tape of justin timberlake and 'what goes around comes around' was on repeat for like an hour.

in the photos there is one of me by the river...one of the main house part on the island, one of sam(of of the managers) answering the phone in the only way/spot they get reception on the island..and one of leslie and the guys we hung out with- pete(aussie who is also a manager), sam(from wales) and chris(south dakota).

i am realizing the longer i am here and meeting people, the more opportunities that come up. i think i've had 4 job offers in the past few days. working with a travel/tour company taht goes around uganda, working and taking over hairy lemon, going to thailand with pete to start up a new hairy lemon on a river tehre and a white water kayaking base....seriously. unfortuntaly i really do need to come back to canada in july and these options will have to be put on hold...well...maybe... ;)

it's a struggle, but i know i'm meant to come home in july, for at LEAST a year or two of education....then the desire to be back here might take over, and i might just be a travvleing hippie kayaking guide for the next few years. who knows??!!!?

oooh, we are going abseiling down sippi falls this weekend. (a massive waterfall at the base of mt. elgeron)

LOVE you all!

www.welcomehomeafrica.com

2007-06-14T02:10:00.000-07:00

i am going to post some more stuff about the orphanage. if my camera batteries were still alive, i would post more pictures. those will have to be added later. but i wanted to touch on a few things i get to do here, incase you wanted to know.

i think i mentioned that i've become good friends with esther, who runs the place out here. besides the obvious good things about having a good friend, i also get to see a side of things that many volunteers might not. there are two student interns at welcome home right now, charity and issac. they are my age and doing their uni degree in social work. i, and leslie when she is there, get to go along with them . i get to tag along to meetings with possible children we might take in, visiting the villages and families where they come from. i get to take kids to the clinic to get immunizations and medicene. i get to go with the social workers to the hospital to see mums who have just given birth. i get to make certificates, write schedules and be a part of things that are more so the administration side, which is really, really interesting. and i also get to sit in esthers office and eat 'sweets' and visit with her whenever.

it's pretty awesome. however. you also see more of the hurting side of things. for instance.

yesterday we got in a new baby. her name is julianna, she is 1 year old. she is HIV positive and we think she has TB and malnutrician and Lord knows what else. the mum died from AIDS (its assumed) and the ja-ja (grandma) who is somewhere between the age of 70-80(she didnt know) has been taking care of her, and the other 5 children under 10 yrs who all have different fathers who have all disapeared.there is a sister, but she is in school and cant take care of her. it is too much for the ja-ja in the village, with no means of income becides the occastion maize she walks to the market to sell. how, you ask, can this happen? but it is just one out of....so many stories.

it has though, in fact, become like home. thus , what a fitting name the place has. welcome home. please go and check out the website, and if you feel like it's something you'd like to support- they are always in financial need. and you can see more photos of where i am!
thank you. :)
www.welcomehomeafrica.com

listen to the sound of the world

2007-06-11T03:30:00.000-07:00

You can’t see it, but around his waist is a black band, a sign that he is seeing the witch doctor to cure his illness.

You can’t see it, but his tummy is as round as santa claus’…and I guarentee it’s not from eating cookies and candy. The worms in his stomach are eating his insides.

You can’t see it, but he’s staring at his house…which is made of mud and brick and a few branches that get washed clear when there is a tropical storm..which happens often in the rainy season.

You can’t feel it, but his bottom isn’t as soft as a “baby’s bottom” should be.

You can’t hear it, but his voice screams “I LOVE JESUS!!” with more passion than Billy Graham.

You can’t see me…or the tears that form in my eyes and splash onto the paper as I try to sketch his photo.
So much you can’t see, feel or hear..just from one little bare bottom.

tribute to the trio

2007-06-11T03:23:00.000-07:00

“LVL C3.” (Lindsay Vicki Leslie, Canadian Three). That’s right, we were cool enough to make an acronum for ourselves. I just wanted to say that one of ‘the three of us’ has left and gone home to kitchner Ontario, and leslie and I shall miss her terribly. As they say on the lion king, “our trio’s down to two. Oh.”
Anyways- LINDSAY…we love you and miss you tons. It’s not the same without you telling us stories that start off “this one time, on our canoe trip..” and I have to make fun of leslie and her sing-song voice all alone. Pete’s sister and her bf from London came and brought a bunch of tabloids though that you are missing out on. Hee. We think of you often and eat your nutella with our fingers every night. Muah.

my little loves

2007-06-11T02:55:00.000-07:00

These are a few of my babies…the ones I wish I could take on the plane with me! Brenda is the skinny one…she is our newest and I wrote about her earlier. She has gotten SO much better in the matter of two weeks of eating and getting some real love. She smiles, she laughs, she holds my hand..as you can see. I’ve got a special place for her in my heart. Other little loves are ben, who has THE biggest smile in the world, mercy- the cute little gal eating a toy, and john- the little boy who gives me kisses(the one I’m holding).

safari!

2007-06-08T02:41:00.000-07:00

I was going to post photos today, but unfortunatly am sitting at a computer that doesn’t have a usb output AND I forgot my camera pluger-inner thing. Double suck. You’ll just have to imagine everything. Oh and I also did the brilliant thing of deleting most of the photos on my camera after I burned a cd of them, BEFORE I posted them on my blog, sooooo…photos of giraffes and y’know…unicorns and dragons…are gone until I get home.

I might turn all my thoughts into a few posts here so I don’t overwhelm you . I’ll tell you about our most recent weekend, and also tell you that you should check out my best friend here, leslie’s blog. The address is www.leslieinuganda.blogspot.com . she writes more detailed than me, and might give you a different perspective on mostly the same stuff..as we are together nearly 24/7. anyways…this past weekend we went on a SAFARI! At murchesin falls… we actually got to kampala on Thursday, being under the impression that our bus left on Friday…however, as things go in Africa, it decided not to leave until Saturday. SO we spent thurday and Friday in kampala which was actually REALLY sweet as we got to experience the “big city” and its luxuries like a MALL with a movie theatre and real stores in it, and a smoothie bar which was the highlight of my weekend. Screw the elephants, give me a smoothie and I’ll show some excitement. Anyways… our NGO contact in kampala took us out for a royally nice dinner and hooked leslie and I up with a travel agent who booked us mountain gorilla permits in Rwanda, for july 8^th. YES!!!!! So leslie and I, after much distress trying to re-arrange our flights and stuff decided to leave Jinja a week earlier than proposed to head down to Rwanda for the last week we are here. So I will fly out of Uganda on july 15^th, spend a few nights in London, and then carry on to arrive in Vancouver july 18^th.

So in theory I could be home in summerland by the 20^th or something…planning to catch some of the summer before heading to camp for senior high, hopefully flying to Montana for a friends wedding and then moving myself down to…where? Yes indeed, I still don’t know. I am currently at the top of the waiting list for the musical theatre program at capilano college in north Vancouver. However, in the meantime or unknown there I am registering (or my good friend Joanne is for me) at ucfv in chilliwack for the theatre program. So most likely it looks like I will be in chilliwack, with a chance of north van. But theres my life update. Now back to the safari

So after spending a few days in kampala, meeting rad people at our backpackers (check out their NGO www.krochetkids.com ) we took off Saturday morning 6 hours driving up north to murchesin falls, where its hotter than hell (or Jinja, anyways). Sunday morning at 6am we set off on a 4 hour game drive. The girls and I sat ONTOP of our safari van- which proved to give amazing views but very very sore bottoms. Yes we saw elephants, giraffes, baboons, birds and crazy elk and warthogs (pumpa!) and LIONS! It was fantastic. Actually more so than animals I loved the scenery- the landscape is just bloody UNREAL and African skies are God’s best masterpiece. The girls and I would bust into “circle of life” quite often and even once I started singing “goin’ on a lion hunt”..only to be told to shut up by our guide as I would scare the lions away. Ha!

We went on a boat cruise that afternoon to the bottom of the mighty waterfalls, as well saw loads of hippos and crocs and whatever else. It was cool. I got loads of sun. the bitter-sweet thing about my malaria pills is that they make me more susceptible to sunshine, which means I burn like a banshee but get a nice tan quite quickly. The drive home on Monday was the longest ride of my life. Oh well it was worth it.

That’s all for the safari blog- now I shall post another on more in depth thoughts.

random..facts..stories..photos.

2007-05-29T03:59:00.000-07:00

We got a new baby into the orphanage today. His name is ben. He is one week old, and weighs in a 3 pounds. He is the tiniest thing I have ever laid eyes on. Esther(the lady who runs the place) just left to go pick u another one from the hospital- apparently is a year/half old, but is so malnourished it looks like she is a week old as well. Esther was just irate as the mother was there and was apparently fat and healthy and trying to come up with excuses why her baby was sick. It is things that that that break your heart. I love the babies at the orphanage, there are defiantly a few that just capture you as favourites, even though you shouldn’t…but when little john picks me a flower and then kisses my cheek about 10 times, it’s hard not to.

I just thought I’d post a few more photos of stuff around here- like the side of the road driving into my town of jinja, and a house that we walk by every day on our way downtown. AND the famous bugigali falls, on the nile river… we rafted over them.

The girls both got a case of “the scurge” yesterday. According to the brit kids we live with, that means puking out of both ends, good ol’ travelers diahhreah. They are both really pumped im writing about it. Haha. I haven’t been hit with it yet, but assuming at some point in time I shall.

Oh yeah, the “brit kids” we live with is actually about 8 uni students from England who are here teaching at some of the local high schools. We have become quite close with them and it’s a pretty fun set up to live in a house with a load of people our age. We go out to eat, or to the local backpackers for a drink quite often..good times.

Or most evenings you can find us three crazy Canadian girls eating avocados and mangos and cans of tuna out on the porch. It’s our favourite spot.

Avocados are about 10 cents each. Mangos set you back maybe 30 cents.
It is the GOOD life!!
More random facts and stories to come.

PHOTOS!!

2007-05-29T02:57:00.000-07:00

OK PHOTOS!!!!

FINALLY!!!

They take forever to get on here, so you better appreciate them. I’ll try and exlplain them, ok.
The one of me and two other girls is of my best girlfriends here, Lindsay, (far right) and leslie(middle) they are both from ontario and I don’t quite know what I’d do without them here! Linds is heading home next week unfortunately, but leslie is here with me to the bitter end..we are hoping to do some traveling in Rwanda after our volunteer placements.

The one of all the adorable children is of some of the kids at my orphanage.

The one of me pointed at water? That’s where the river nile begins, where it and lake Victoria meet. It’s quite the touristy thing here, we went on this sweet rickety old wooden canoe to see it.

The one of me and Lindsey in skirts on the road is one day walking home from town…scorching hot. And long skirts are the ‘culturally approprite’ thing to wear when you are going somewhere.. cultural? I forget what we were doing that day. But I defiantly didn’t bring enough nice clothes to be appropriete everyday that’s for sure.

And then the vertical one is when we were on a boat tour, this was a thatched hut by the side of the lake. Just up the hill was a big mansion, so we are assuming this little mud hut is where the workers lived.(for the mansion) I tried to get the mansion in the photo as well but it didn’t work. The contrast between housing here is actually unreal. You can have a row of mud huts with dirt floors and charcoal fires, and then right next door is a massive new house with a big gate and security guards. The house we live in is neither.. quite moderate but has everything you need.
Ok whew that’s all the photos I can do right now…thanks for looking. Will try more later.

childrens choir

2007-05-25T04:17:00.000-07:00

This morning lindsey and I found ourselves at a local primary school seeking out some possible volunteer positions. We ended up outside in a field with the music director and true African childrens choir who proceded to wow us with their voices. It was fantastic! Only to be put on the spot myself when Gerald, the director turned to me and said, ‘ok, so…what would you like to teach them? A song? A drama?”

Ummmm what/????

I was caught off guard a little, with 30 kids standing in front of me expecting me to bust out some north American music with nothing but my measly vocal chords. (not like I can offer anything else either, even if I had it)

I felt at a loss, to say the least. So I stammered that I didn’t have anything prepared, So reluctantly the director (obviously disappointed at my lack of improv skills) got the kids to sing some African songs in their native languages..which was oh so freaking cool, way cooler than anything I could possibly think to TEACH them??? ME?? What on earth could I offer???

BUT anyways I am pumped, as I will be helping out for an hour everyday at the school getting the kids ready with their songs/poems/dramas for national ‘childrens rights’ day coming up next month. Also I’m going to be teaching a bible study there on Wednesday afternoons, which is awesome.

Kids singing and clapping and shaking their booty is pretty much the coolest thing in the world.

rafting the nile

2007-05-20T01:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I rafted the nile river. (well, not the whole thing obviously)
I’m not sure how to summarize the day but it was pretty unreal, grade 5 rapids(the biggest are grade 6) and they were HUGGGGGEEE!! Our boat flipped I’m not sure how many times, I think there were 12 rapids and we flipped of fell out on at least half of them. A couple times were downright scary, and on the last one “the bad place” my face smashed someone’s helmet and I got a swoillen lip, and then when the guide pulled me into the boat DURING a rapid his paddle smashed my eye, so now I have sort of a black eye. Neat.

Our guide, a finnish dude, have quite the hay-day of making us terrified, and I’ll tell ya it sure worked. I just had visions of when I first did white water kayaking in new Zealand and freaked out, closing my eyes and throwing my paddle in the air and going down a set of rapids half underwater and unable to flip myself back up.

So, my way of dealing with an upcoming rapid? Squeeze my eyes shut, hold on for dear life..hahaha..sometimes throw my paddle and curl up in a little ball and pray for it to be over soon. Maybe I’m just not made for whitewater, maybe Vicki, you should stick to lakes. Hahaha. I actually enjoyed most of it though, it sure is a rush. And the nile is sooo warm and beautiful..lots of birdlife. No crocs, however on the bus ride back into town we saw one down below.

The girls and I are doing a safari up at murchisen falls in a couple of weeks, and one girl leslie and I are looking into taking on Rwanda for a few weeks when we are done our stint here in jinja mid july. The mountain gorilla trek seems too good to miss, and we want to see the genocide memorials and the mille Collins and all.

Well, I shall be off…until I have another adventure to tell you of..

MUCH love
vicki

ALIVE IN AFRICA!

2007-05-18T04:11:00.000-07:00

That’s right, I’m BLOGGING from Africa. Eat that, Ryan. ;) just kidding. I’m actually typing this on word and then copy and pasting it to the site as internet access is incredibly slow here! As in, the other day I typed two emails in an HOUR. So.

What to say so far…I don’t know how to post this all or somehow explain life here or what I am experiencing. I arrived into the airport in Entebbe, Uganda, after 3 days and two nights of constant flying…and sitting twiddling my thumbs in airports, trying to sleep in planes, you know. Needless to say it was long, but nothing went wrong!!!! I am SOOO thankful for that as lots of you know my seemingly bad luck with airports/airlines/flights/visas, etc.

Anyways. Ok. In brief. I spent the night at a guesthouse in Entebbe for the night to get over jet lag. A driver picked me up in the morning and drive me to the capital Kampala, to get myself oriented and meet the Ugandan coordinator for my organization, Dennis; and my contact person in Jinja, Emmanuel. We toured around Kampala, got money changed, got a cell phone, went to the museum, went to some tombs….. finally driving out to my home town here of Jinja, with stops at the edge of the NILE RIVER and the white water rafting site for the company my organization is teamed up with- ADRIFT. Finally we ended up at my guesthouse in Jinja where I met Lindsey and Leslie, who are also volunteering with GIVE. We clicked strait away and are pretty inseperable now; which is also a huge blessing.

So the past few days then…I have gotten aquainted with two orphanages, which I think I might do a few days a week at each. I’ve eaten fried cassava from street vendors, rode a ‘boda boda’ (scooter form of taxi transport), met amazing people, ate the biggest and best avocado from an old lady on the street(for like, 10 cents), and like..shoot I don’t know what else to say!! It’s been surreal, and unreal, but at the same time feels like normal and casual to be here.

Today the girls and I were walking downtown and heard loud African music coming from the local high school, so we wandered over to check it out. Introduced ourselves to some ladies going in and they took us along- turned out to be “JINJA FOR JESUS”, a big conference. It was amazing. It was ALIVE! Jesus is so alive and vibrant and….i don’t have many words for that either. We clapped, we jumped, we danced, we raised our hands in the air, we laughed, I nearly cried…we saw some old man shake his booty like I’ve never thought possible!!! If there is anything that is so apparent to my faith here it is that GOD IS REAL. I love it. The girls and I want to learn how to drum and how to dance. Honestly, these people put beonce to shame. And MUSIC is brilliant. Im trying to think of how I can fit like, 10 drums in my backpack to bring home.

Shoot I could go on forever. But I just wanted everyone to know that I am safe, I feel increbibly safe..my guesthouse is great…sleeping under mozzie nets makes me feel like im in a princess bed..hahaha. haven’t really even seen a mosquito but I know malaria is very real so YES im taking my drugs. Oh, and food? Lots of sweet potatos, cassava(like potato) maize, (like corn) g-nut sauce (which is a different color everywhere you go, so im still not quite sure what it is…) cooked cabbage..matoke (umm..a kind of mashed green banana). Meat is somewhat to be desired unless you are in a nice restaurant, the “hygienic butcher” shop on the side of the road is enough to make the matoke reappear in my mouth.

OH and I finally got to drink a decent coffee today. Roasted here at the shop im in right now, its like my beanery of jinja so I am happy to have found it. Otherwise we just have instant at the guesthouse (rob you were right..i should have brought some over) BUT there is no coffee pot either so yeah. Lots of things remind me of new Zealand, british saying and the way things are done so I feel at home.

The children are gorgeous and id like to bring them all home with me. I am reffered to at the orphanage as “auntie Vicki” and am constantly being climbed on and having my legs hugged. How can your heart not break when you learn which ones are HIV positive, which ones have been there for so long and not yet adopted.. but looking at all their hands folded and saying a prayer of thanks together before a meal certainly would have my mother a constant waterfall… ;)

So this actyualy is brief compared to all I would love to share with you. However I probably wont be doing this that often so I figure ill make up for by wrting long posts. OH so I have a cell phone, and its free for me to receive calls and texts from overseas soooo if you so desire to call or text, my number is..umm
256-077-31-09-991

much love to you all…until I post again, thanks for your thoughts and prayers. They are appreciated!
VickI…

summerland girls

2007-05-11T00:46:00.000-07:00

here are a few photos of

a. last "summerland girls" night for awhile

b. last day at the pool with robyn and

c. last day at the beanery.

all these friggen awesome ladies were in the same room drinking wine with me tonight, just enjoying the summer evening and our friendship and how it just keeps thriving no matter what the distance. WOW that was cheesy. but oh so true.

summerland girls .. hold down the fort . drink iced americanos. pull the chairs up into the sunshine in the middle of main street. go wine tasting. make pink t shirts with elephants on them. drive barefoot. listen to sufjan. longboard like crazy. wear massive sunnies. bbq everything. and email me.

much love