The REAL Uganda

Sorry it's been a couple of days since I last posted anything. The power has been out and the internet has been down. Not sure where I left off but I will write about my weekend.

Saturday I went to Kampala and bought some new books for my students with the donation money. I bought 62 new books which I gave to the school today and they were soooooo excited. It made me feel really good. While in Kampala I decided to treat myself to a little western food. Probably not a good idea. My body had become used to the food here so after eating I got an upset stomach. Yes envision me using those nasty toilets:) Good times! The trip to Kampala takes about an hour by Mutatu (taxi) They are small VW like vans that hold a ton of people. I'll tell you more about those later.

After Kampala I went to a local pool and had a swim. I was told they have showers there so I was excited. The showers were cold water and were filthy. There were bugs everywhere. NASTY! But at least I got a bit of a tan and got to wash my hair.

Yesterday I went out to a very far away village with my room mate. It took us 2 Mutatu (taxi) rides and a boda boda (Scooter) Now here in Uganda, most women wear skirts so you can't ride a boda boda like a man, you have so sit side saddle. Ok imagine this, me sitting sideways on a motorcycle and I am not allowed to hang onto the driver. I can only hang onto the seat. Plus there really are no road rules here. People drive where they want and how fast they want. We were on these old dirt roads (again I use the word road loosely) It was like 4 wheel driving, I was scared to death.

Now lets get to the Mutatu rides. In a van where in North America we would fit a maximum of 12 people, we managed to be in one with 27 people and another with 25. I was dying. Not only were we over crowed but the drivers were driving crazy fast. I was sure we were going to die. Once we got to the village it was great. The people there never see white people so they were so excited. We had a huge lunch (not good but big) and then took an 1 1/2 hour walk. We walked through some really remote villages where I am sure we were the first white people these people have ever seen. They would come running out of their houses and yelling Mzungu Mzungu (White person) The kids would follow us for a long ways. I stopped to take a picture of some of them. When I tried to show it to them they didn't get it. Because they don't have mirrors here I am sure they have never seen themselves. Once I took a picture with them and showed it to them they freaked out because they saw me in it. It was great! I loved being in the village and hope to go back. One of the teachers there is hoping to buy some land to build an orphanage on and some crop to feed the children. The land is only $800 so I was thinking of using some of the donated money towards that. He has done great things with the children in that area.

The most exciting news is that I got my Ugandan name while on my trip. It is Nansubuga! It is from the Mumba tribe that has something to do with fish. The reason I got that one is because they guy who gave it to me apparently liked me so he gave me the female version of his name (Nsubuga). So we jokingly say that I now have a Ugandan husband. The whole thing was silly but fun.

I am sure I have a million other things to write about but I have to get back to school. I am feeling sick today but I am trying to fight through it as today is my first art class and the kids are sooooo excited about it.

I will write more soon

Jenn