Alright for all of you who are concerned about my life and the danger that I appear to be in- I'm safe! Obama is sending the troops up north ( 3 hours away), to help with the invisible children typed deal. Look it up, I don't know facts. All I know is I appear safe right now, because they are just stationed up there, but will be working mostly in the Congo. However, Messiah did email me and warn me about the stuff going on and my friend Hannah and Sarah ( who I visited in Kampala ) Are both in a study abroad in Rwanda, but hannah was at her practicum in Uganda this month and just got moved back to Rwanda for a precaution. Messiah made them go back to rwanda, so I'm sure if things here get out of hand at all I'll just retreat with them!!!!!
ALsooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Mail. You guys are freaking amazing. It makes me soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo happy.
Hamburgers also make me happy. and Ice cream. and brownies. I consumed all of this yesterday in Kampala after shopping with some friends................... Yes I got incredibly sick after. Thanks American food! Can't wait for mom to pick me up from the airport. Plan- Uno's, Dunkin Donuts, anddddddd mcdonalds apple pies........ It's going to be glorious!
Monday, October 17, 2011
Thursday, October 13, 2011
Update October 13, 2011
I'm not on a 'Missions trip'. Im studying abroad. But I'm not living your typical study abroad/college life at all. I don't live on campus, I live with a family in the community. I mean, I definitely eat way too much nutella and procrastinate like there's no tomorrow and I think facebook is man's best creation next to the Oreo, but there's nothing normal about this life I'm living. In response to Maddy's question about how my life in Africa is and wanting the details I'll try to fill you in better. :)
Ok. I wake up cranky every morning just like in America. I sit through hours of classes ( each class is 2 hours with no break) that either bore the living daylights out of me or depress me so much! Two classes are taught by the people who run this program( Americans) so it is just like classes at home. One class Is specifically for our practicum (my orphanage site internship). Hor that class we have been given a book called 'when helping hurts you and others'. I know you are thinking, 'uh Hil helping can't hurt.' Uh yep. Yep it can actually! Just like in America sometimes when you give hand outs, people take advantage of it, start to rely on it , don't fend for themselves and pretty soon BAM! It hurts them because they no longer depend on themselves for things but they depend on you, then you are hurt because you realize they only want you for your money.
Take me for example. My family asked for my clothes, camera, naphtha, money, shoes, and hair elastics. Why? Because for some reason the girl who lived with them last semester took them up to the school office at the end of the semester and let them take anything they wanted from the pile of things kids were not bringing home! This pile of things was left there (not at the peoples houses) to prevent people from expecting other students to leave their nice stuff. isn't that awesome! They got tons of nice gap jeans, skirts, blouses and water bottles. So NATURALLY, ya, that was really nice, girl, for you to let them have all this stuff they weren't supposed to have, but what are they going to expect from me? Her 'giving' hurt my relationship with my family because after they asked me for my things I just felt depressed like they didn't want me, they only wanted my things!
The reason we went to Luwero this weekend was to meet with Bishops and go to a Compassion site and witness the differen ways people are trying to 'help' Africa. Half of our families in the U.S. probably sponsor a child over seas somewhere. Why? Cause they are cute or cause it makes us feel good about ourselves and we are tryin to do our part in the world. Are either of those reasons bad? No, definitely not. But they are easy. This continent isn't easy. Feeding millions of starving Children isn't easy. Finding someone to help feed them isn't easy. Finding someone to come everyday and play and teach and love on these kids in the RIGHT way everyday isnt easy. Can you imagine...day in day out..teachig school to 100 kids in a classroom then every Saturday making porridge over a hot fire and then running around playing soccer with 270 kids for 12 hours? Of course your thinking, 'that would be amazing!!!' Of course it would! For $10 a week? Amazing?! How about when they get in fights and you have to discipline them are you still loving it? For $10.00 a week? Uh huh. That's what happened at the Compassion site and man it was amazing! The teachers were so happy and so blessed just to be able to play with those kids all day! You would have no idea they were stuck in class with them for the whole week before as well.
My idea of a Compassion site was a little different than what we saw. Each kid there was NOT sponsored. Most were, but if unsponsored kids wanted to go hang out on Saturday and talk about Jesus and eat porridge and play soccer they could join in with the other sponsored kids! There are over 270 kids at this particular site and the management there has been budgeting so every kid in the program could get a new mattress! 270 mattresses were FILLED from floor to ceiling in someones office! Filled! Because of the money sponsors have been able to send here! Even though we aren't directly able to see the difference we make in these kids lives, it's wicked cool to see what 30 bucks a month can do for a community of struggling children. A lot of the children there are orphans, but they still live in their relatives house; because if Compassion was to build an orphanage, they would just be taking the kids away from the community. Community is lethal for survival here. No one is independent. If someone does not do their part everyone suffers. Orphanage or not?
One of the Bishops we talked to was the coolest fellow ever. He talked more on the beauty of community and the importance if keeping people involved so they have a place to belong. As much as I love my intern site (Noah's Ark Orphanage), I'm not sure how it is for the children in the long run. The whole facility is incredibly fancy, clean, trampolines, toys, bikes, books, they even have the Disney channel!!! I mean I've seen a few kids in the community, with paint rollers and bike tires to play with but definitely never a toy. And the Disney channel? The kids in the community have jugs of water on their heads, occasionally shoes and a shirt.... With a few holes in it. How are my little buddies at Noah's Ark going to survive in the real Africa when they are too old to live at the orphanage? I mean, dang! Culture shock! We don even have a tv at my house here. We use a computer monitor! What now Noah's Ark? Do I think they are doing anything wrong by taking kids in who would other wise be dumped in latrines and left for dead? Heck, no! So what do you do? Call Noahs Ark and ask if they have an extra bed? Or call a relative who can't afford to feed their own family? I have no idea.
Ok I'm done ranting. Hopefully, you get a litle better understanding of my life in Africa now. :)
Oh, and I'm good. :) Laundry was done this morning. I'm gaining weight consistently due to mass intake of bananas, coconutees, nutella, anddddddd um..beans and rice! :)
Ok. I wake up cranky every morning just like in America. I sit through hours of classes ( each class is 2 hours with no break) that either bore the living daylights out of me or depress me so much! Two classes are taught by the people who run this program( Americans) so it is just like classes at home. One class Is specifically for our practicum (my orphanage site internship). Hor that class we have been given a book called 'when helping hurts you and others'. I know you are thinking, 'uh Hil helping can't hurt.' Uh yep. Yep it can actually! Just like in America sometimes when you give hand outs, people take advantage of it, start to rely on it , don't fend for themselves and pretty soon BAM! It hurts them because they no longer depend on themselves for things but they depend on you, then you are hurt because you realize they only want you for your money.
Take me for example. My family asked for my clothes, camera, naphtha, money, shoes, and hair elastics. Why? Because for some reason the girl who lived with them last semester took them up to the school office at the end of the semester and let them take anything they wanted from the pile of things kids were not bringing home! This pile of things was left there (not at the peoples houses) to prevent people from expecting other students to leave their nice stuff. isn't that awesome! They got tons of nice gap jeans, skirts, blouses and water bottles. So NATURALLY, ya, that was really nice, girl, for you to let them have all this stuff they weren't supposed to have, but what are they going to expect from me? Her 'giving' hurt my relationship with my family because after they asked me for my things I just felt depressed like they didn't want me, they only wanted my things!
The reason we went to Luwero this weekend was to meet with Bishops and go to a Compassion site and witness the differen ways people are trying to 'help' Africa. Half of our families in the U.S. probably sponsor a child over seas somewhere. Why? Cause they are cute or cause it makes us feel good about ourselves and we are tryin to do our part in the world. Are either of those reasons bad? No, definitely not. But they are easy. This continent isn't easy. Feeding millions of starving Children isn't easy. Finding someone to help feed them isn't easy. Finding someone to come everyday and play and teach and love on these kids in the RIGHT way everyday isnt easy. Can you imagine...day in day out..teachig school to 100 kids in a classroom then every Saturday making porridge over a hot fire and then running around playing soccer with 270 kids for 12 hours? Of course your thinking, 'that would be amazing!!!' Of course it would! For $10 a week? Amazing?! How about when they get in fights and you have to discipline them are you still loving it? For $10.00 a week? Uh huh. That's what happened at the Compassion site and man it was amazing! The teachers were so happy and so blessed just to be able to play with those kids all day! You would have no idea they were stuck in class with them for the whole week before as well.
My idea of a Compassion site was a little different than what we saw. Each kid there was NOT sponsored. Most were, but if unsponsored kids wanted to go hang out on Saturday and talk about Jesus and eat porridge and play soccer they could join in with the other sponsored kids! There are over 270 kids at this particular site and the management there has been budgeting so every kid in the program could get a new mattress! 270 mattresses were FILLED from floor to ceiling in someones office! Filled! Because of the money sponsors have been able to send here! Even though we aren't directly able to see the difference we make in these kids lives, it's wicked cool to see what 30 bucks a month can do for a community of struggling children. A lot of the children there are orphans, but they still live in their relatives house; because if Compassion was to build an orphanage, they would just be taking the kids away from the community. Community is lethal for survival here. No one is independent. If someone does not do their part everyone suffers. Orphanage or not?
One of the Bishops we talked to was the coolest fellow ever. He talked more on the beauty of community and the importance if keeping people involved so they have a place to belong. As much as I love my intern site (Noah's Ark Orphanage), I'm not sure how it is for the children in the long run. The whole facility is incredibly fancy, clean, trampolines, toys, bikes, books, they even have the Disney channel!!! I mean I've seen a few kids in the community, with paint rollers and bike tires to play with but definitely never a toy. And the Disney channel? The kids in the community have jugs of water on their heads, occasionally shoes and a shirt.... With a few holes in it. How are my little buddies at Noah's Ark going to survive in the real Africa when they are too old to live at the orphanage? I mean, dang! Culture shock! We don even have a tv at my house here. We use a computer monitor! What now Noah's Ark? Do I think they are doing anything wrong by taking kids in who would other wise be dumped in latrines and left for dead? Heck, no! So what do you do? Call Noahs Ark and ask if they have an extra bed? Or call a relative who can't afford to feed their own family? I have no idea.
Ok I'm done ranting. Hopefully, you get a litle better understanding of my life in Africa now. :)
Oh, and I'm good. :) Laundry was done this morning. I'm gaining weight consistently due to mass intake of bananas, coconutees, nutella, anddddddd um..beans and rice! :)
Friday, October 7, 2011
MORE PICTURES october 7......
Bungie Jumping the Nile!
WOW!
school desks Uganda style........
Bungie Jumping the Nile...I didn't go because I've had enough head injuries....
the NILE RIVER
DORM ROOM! (not mine)
Eddie (Kelsey's little brother) making supper!
monkey migration through town :D
Mukono Marketplace
The Nile
The Nile
The resort we stayed at
Update October 7. 2011....
This weekend we are headed to luweru a very desolate HIV AIDs ridden area that was exploited by the government a few years ago. I'm not sure exactly what happened but the president apparently is super corrupt and started a peoples war up there ( to show his power over the people ) for 5 years in the 70's I believe? During that time people just killed each other and ruined the entire area by the time it was stopped. That president is still in power and is up for re election soon. He uses luweru as an excuse for people to vote for him and says ' remember luwero. If you do not vote for me it will happen again.' oh africa. Over 500,000 were killed. We are going to speak with different bishops who are considered political leaders here and learning about the way this country is run and to witness the incredible poverty and confusion that still remains. I guess? They didn't really tell us what's going on! Surprise! But I do know that we are going to a compassion international site to see how that foundation works! And we get to play with kiddos! I'm psyched about that ! Sunday we come home and get to stop at the mall in the city! sCORE. Hamburgerrrrrrsssss:):):) icce cream. Crazy cheap gift shops! If anyone wants anything inparticular from here let me know cause it's all sooo sooo cheap!
My older Brother is getting married this weekend and I can't go which is quite a bummer, but weddings here are all over 500 people and at least two day events! Which would be so cool for the cultural aspects, but to be the only muzungu at a wedding would mean everyone literally analyzing me for hours! It would be awful ! My younger brothers both attend boarding school and Apparently although a wedding is so important to invite 500 people, it is not that important because one of my brothers cannot even be released from school! ? Weird. Everyday i meet someone new in my family... I use to think i had 4 brothers and 2 sisters. But now i realize i have 4 sisters 5 brothers and 3 nieces and nephews. . . The family tree I learned is bigger than I thought!
The first thing your mother ever taught you was never sit on a public toilet and ALwAYs check for toilet paper. Well lucky for those whose moms didn't teach them anything! Here in Uganda it is a RARE occasion that you even find a toilet seat, and an even rarer thing to find toilet paper! I just learned a couple weeks ago that the bag in Our home latrine is full of newspaper... Aka toilet paper. We start our fires for cooking with plastic bags... I think we should start using leaves to wipe and use the freaking paper to start fires so it doesn't take hours!
The first thing your mother ever taught you was never sit on a public toilet and ALwAYs check for toilet paper. Well lucky for those whose moms didn't teach them anything! Here in Uganda it is a RARE occasion that you even find a toilet seat, and an even rarer thing to find toilet paper! I just learned a couple weeks ago that the bag in Our home latrine is full of newspaper... Aka toilet paper. We start our fires for cooking with plastic bags... I think we should start using leaves to wipe and use the freaking paper to start fires so it doesn't take hours!
So this weekend I collected 15 new mosquito bites! Not just bug bites these suckers are lethal!!!! They are so red and inflamed that I can no longer shave my legs. So I had to resort to my arms. Which are now bald .
Wednesdays my 'why not' African moment- I stayed home from my intern Tuesday to finish writing a couple papers due to not having a laptop to do them on in the evenings. Yay. The next day when I wen to print it off the whole town was out of power- so naturAlly I told my teacher hey sorry my paper isn't printed can I bring it to your office when powers back on? Him" you just bring next week.". Uh okay. You would say that cause we're in freaking Africa where there are like no demands as far as timelines go. " oh ya, we're in Africa moment!" I almost hip chucked one of my friends into the door frame of a building yesterday... Then I realized if I did it was very likely that the entire building ( hut-ish typed thing would just cave in.
I stole some of my friends pics to put on the blog.....
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
Bad news. My nutella that was supposed to last me two weeks only lasted one. Snap. The good news? I survived to be 21! That's quite impressive as far as I'm concerned! Last week was a packed one for sure! Tuesday someone decided to break into one of our locked up study rooms on campus and steal my laptop and my friends laptop AND Ipod. Naturally that put me over the edge just a little bit. I pretty much freaked out, Thanks Jen for the best laptop I've ever had! That thing survived more than the world could ever know! Including having my fishbowl smash all over it freshman year! So glad I took her advice on NOT purchasing a new one before coming to AFrica...for some reason she seemed to think that something would happen to it? Sometimes I wish I had a more 'normal' life, but then what would I have to blog about???
After flipping out after the whole laptop ordeal and other little things I called mom and demanded a flight home, to which she denied. Thanks mom, your sweet. Luckily the next day was the day I was going to the city to meet up with Hannah and Sarah ( My partners in crime at Messiah!!). It was such a blessing as far as time goes, I was so done in and ready to kill anyone who rubbed me. We got BURGERS AND PICKLES. oh yaaaaa. Then went to a traditional Ugandan dance, which was great. I don't think I could have run into two better people. Comparing our African lifestyles was great, at first I was still ready to kill anyone who messed with me, but after we were telling stories about the things we had been doing my sense of humor came back and I realized the only way i'm going to make it through this semester is with a sense of humor. It is so easy to get bogged down in the little things and just get in a funk and I definitely was stuck in that for a solid three weeks! There is no way I can sit there and tell them hours and hours of the frustrating conversations that I have had with my family and be mad...the more stories I told the more I realized how out of control this whole African lifestyle is as far as i'm concerned. It is one thing to write it on a blog or shoot off a brief email and get a 'haha' response from you guys, but to actually have a conversation with friends from home who what is going on because they live here and understand too is soooo different and refreshing!
Time management:
1.) Don't ever tell me I'm late again. My bible class starts at 8:30, the majority of the class shows up around 9, the rest come in around 9:30.
2.) I came back from the city Thursday afternoon becuase I had a meeting for bible class. They decided to change it to Friday. Well today is Tuesday- I just got a text a couple hours ago to meet my group. It's only 4 days late guys.
"Why not" is the new " Why????"
1.) Went to the cell phone store for minutes. The shop is called MTN ( phone company). Guess who doesn't have any cell phone stuff? Yep. Why not? (after all we're in Africa)
2.) Went to the Ice Cream palour, asked for ice cream. They don't have ice cream there. It's a restraunt. huh. Why not?
3.) Went to Pizza Hat in the city. Literally the only thing NOT on the menu- PIzza. No joke. Why not, after all we are in AFrica!
4.) Scheduled field trip to some water falls in town for Religions class. Anyone outside of class is invited to come! Get on the bus....take off towards the city....after two hours of driving through awful traffic we come to a tiny little building. No water fall. Definitely not in our town. Got out. Everyone's severely confused and annoyed. Walk inside....it's a travel agency????? And we watched a 20 minute video about some tomb that burnt down last summer..........That's it. got back on the bus. and asked ' WHERE IS THE WATERFALL YOU TOLD US WE WERE GOIG TO?????" " oh. i'm sorry I forgot to tell you guys we weren't going there today."... are you kidding me?!?!?!?! Come on lady. come on. So all the kids who aren't even in our class who just wanted to see a stinkin water fall drove 2 HOURS to a TRAVEL AGENCY??????????. So i used my lungs when we got on the bus and yelled up front to the driver and asked for him to take us to the mall... obviously he wouldn't... NOT. Totally got to go. For a whole 30 minutes. Whatever. If I had to drive 2 hours to watch a stupid movie there was no way I was going to drive all the way home without a milkshake! 'whhyyyyyy not africa ???? '
This past weekend was the big weekend! Saturday we rafted the nile! It was pretty intense, for the last two hours it was a thunder and lightning storm =] we saw two water snakes, but no hippos or alligators =/ . The first set of rapids was sooo crazy! The other two rafting companies there took their boats out of the water and made everyone walk around ! BUT NOT US!!!! :D we hammered down! It was soooooo Great! We got all the super adventurous peeps in one raft so we could go full force and it was great! I won't bore you with details. It . was . so . fly. =] =] =]
post NILE we were stillll psyyyyyyyyyyched up. It was my birthday and another kids birthday this weekend so we went all out and stayed at this place they provided for all the rafters, bungee jumpers, and other extreme sports people. There were people from EVERyWHERE! Met some sweeet people, ate hamburgersssssss, watched bridesmaids, chased monkeys, took HOT SHOWERS ( which I literally could not remember how to wash my hair standing up, i've been bending over my stupid basin for six weeks straight!) watched NEver say NEVER. ate wayyyyy too much chocolate, and other shinanigans. It was a very African birthday. Some other kids went bungee jumping in the morning, but we all know what that would do to my little head after so many concussions =/
I got home Sunday evening and my sister had done some of my laundry!! Bless her little soul!!! My poor knuckles are still scabbed over from last week! After greeting my mother and talking with her she told me to iron and I was like " um...I have nothing to iron?" and she was like. yes your sheets." .... um what? My sheets? REally? my sheets? have you seen my bed? I don't make that thing!!! Long story short my adorable little sister did it for me :D Elizabeth you were soooo blessed to have little sister!! She is the best! We actually have like a real life sister relationship- I have to get her out of trouble literally ever weekend. I probably shouldn't write that online because it sounds bad, but whatever world. Last weekend I came up to school to study and got conned into playing basketball and when I was playing ball she came up and was like Hillary I'm going to town shopping. I'll be back home later. ( our mom wasn't home so i'm in charge of the house ) ( they obviously don't know me well!!!!) After I was done and packing up for home she BURST through the room and demanded we leave RIGHT THEN! I tried to ask her what was going on, but she just told me to hurry up hurry up! as we literally ran the entire way home she explained that on Sunday's she is not allowed to leave home and apparently mom came home and realized we were both gone and called her to find out where we were and she told mom that she was with me. Thanks little sister. So long story short she didn't get in trouble, but it's just really funny to me that she is like forced to stay in the house alllll boring day long and almost got in trouble for going to town. ah. to be sixteeen =]
now that I don't have a lappyyyy toppy it is nearly impossible to email and stuff but i'm trying to keep upto date sooooo ya =] <3
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)