Uganda: September 2010

About a month ago, my grant got fully funded and we started the process of getting the space ready to become a vocational school/library. We had finished all of the cosmetic painting, so William encouraged me to start painting a mural. It took me about a week of making a grid, drawing the countries and finally painting them. The kids love coming in and looking at all the different countries.

We had some paint left over and wanted to do a “hand mural” with the kids. I painted a trunk of a tree and had the kids do their hands for the leaves. They loved it, and I thought it was extra special because they use their hands to communicate.

To finish up the beautification process, I painted all of the left over paint cans and the kids planted flowers. They loved getting their hands dirty and thought it was pretty cool that they each got to plant their own.

I spent last weekend at the Kampala 7even Hills Ultimate Frisbee Tournament with my team of kids from the college. The weekend was full of new experiences and excitement for them. We headed out on Friday night and got into Kampala around dinner time. When we got to our hostel I started cooking the kids American food, because I had promised them I would. They hesitantly ate the spaghetti and garlic bread, while me and peter (the PCV who was chaperone for the boys) scarfed it down like we had never tasted anything better. About halfway through the dinner, one of my students piped up and said “Madam.... are black people allowed to sleep here?” I bust out laughing and asked him why he would ask such a funny question. He replied that all of the people he had seen at this place so far had been mzungu (white) and so he wasn’t sure if the only reason they were allowed in because I was there. I explained that there is nowhere in Uganda that black people are not allowed and it was just that this was a common place for tourists, who are often young mzungus. J

Saturday was a full day of Frisbee games. We played a full 5 games and were exhausted by the end of it. My kids learned a ton.... from teamwork and strategy to how to play fair and have fun. There were some stressful moments when they were frustrated with scores, fouls, and whatnot... but overall they were laughing and enjoying their first real vacation. On the way home Saturday night we stopped at an intersection and one of the students was pointing to a stoplight trying to figure out what it was. Another student piped up and explained the idea behind a stoplight to everyone in the bus (the speech was very good and all of my students were very impressed with their first stoplight) I sat in the front of the bus with my shirt tail in my mouth to stop from cracking up. They were so intrigued.

We went out to dinner with all of the Frisbee teams on Saturday night. First time my kids had ever been to a legitimate restaurant.... they thought they were the coolest kids ever. They all dressed up super nice and had on perfume and whatnot.... spent a good 20 minutes each brushing their darn hair that they don’t even have, with a toothbrush. ha It was great, and really cool that they could converse with older and more experience Frisbee players on the international circuit.

On Sunday we headed out for the semi-finals. Although we came in 6^th (lets be serious.... out of 6) my kids and I wouldn’t have traded it for the world. We won the overall award of “Best Spirit of the Game”!!!!! We loved playing every minute of the tournament and learned a ton. Afterwards, I told them as a treat I would take them to the only legitimate mall in Uganda... Garden City. I gave them each 5,000 shillings (2 dollars) and told them they had one hour to do whatever they wanted to do in the mall.... but they had to spend the money. J After an hour they all came back with full bags and smiles on their faces. I looked in to see what they had purchased, expecting to see candy bars and bags of chips.... only to find loaves of bread and biscuits (two things that they can get at the college!!) Ha. I guess they were all just little overwhelmed by the supermarket, and come to think about it they have probably never seen a candy bar before, let alone eaten one.

As we were leaving the mall one of the students pointed to some doors and asked if it was where the toilet was. I told them it wasn’t a toilet but an elevator and they were intrigued. It was difficult to explain that it took people upstairs without using stairs and it was made for people who couldn’t walk well. My kids were blown away and insisted that we try it out. So we all climbed onto the elevator and they all braced themselves for impact, putting hands on the walls and bending their knees. They all kept asking, when is the ride going to start. The doors opened on floor #2 and I explained that you really couldn’t feel an elevator moving all that much. They walked out onto the second floor and all just started cracking up. It was such a cool moment!

After that we headed home. The weekend was such a success!! My students were able to travel to Kampala for the first (and maybe last) time ever, they were able to practice a skill they had been honing for months, they were able to meet people from around East Africa, and they were able to see that if you work hard and believe in yourself that all things are possible. Thanks to everyone who made my students dreams come true!