do the needful.

Yesterday we got back from one of the best worst more hilarious and fulfilling 2 days ever. We went up to Buyanbuyoka on Monday morning  (the same village that we are finishing the school and building a health clinic in). In an effort to avoid throwing up on the hike up we decided to boda up- especially because we had so much stuff - picture us with our 4inch foam pad mattresses, mosquito nets, food, blankets, clothes, and teaching supplies for 2 days. The boda ride is a joke... they make you GET OFF and WALK the hills! Mal Gal and I were sharing a boda and I was dying laughing, every time he made us get off she would yell "well that's 1 thousand less!" We were paying him so we didn't have to walk up the hills...fail. We were laughing so hard though it was worth it.

When we finally got to the top it was mind blowing. The people are so excited for the school to be finished and the clinic to be built that they have already dug out the foundation of the clinic. We also ran into groups of kids carrying rocks bigger than they were on their heads up and down the mountain! The kids run and get rocks on their breaks from class because they want to help! It was such a humbling experience. We were complaining about walking up the hill and they were carrying ROCKS on their little heads! It was so cool. They are just so dedicated and ready for more opportunities in their village.

We slept at the village on Monday night and it was a great experience... There was a tracker jacker nest in the room and 9 of us shared 4 mattresses that had plastic on them so we kept sticking to them as we were trying not touch each other and get comfortable with the mosquito nets attacking us. It was hilarious. There were so many funny instances because everyone was getting kind of cranky which made it all the funnier... it's good that we can laugh at each other.

Tuesday they asked us to teach English lessons and I got P1 (1st grade). They told us they needed to learn the ABCs which was so false... these kids already knew them! It was supposed to be a 40 min lesson...but when the time was up they said "no, no you go till break.." turns out that meant 2 hrs... it was really fun though. These kids are the best behaved kids I have ever taught! They just sit there and listen intently. They WANT to learn! They are in 1st grade and already know that this is their best opportunity. I couldn't believe the motivation. They were so much fun!

After class we went out and helped carry rocks. I have never been so dirty in my life! Pure motivation though was the 3 yr olds carrying bigger rocks than I can even pick up! I can't even describe how great this experience was- even though it was super tiring and hot to walk up the mountain, get rocks, bring them down to the pile, and then climb back up- it was so awesome to be a part of the community. They are a happy people. Everyone is always smiling and helping each other out. They are all so grateful to us, saying thank you and shaking our hands at any opportunity. It makes me feel unworthy though because I know it's all them! It is their desire and motivation that is making this happen! All we have done is carry a few rocks (ok they calculated it was about 7000) down the hill....

Funny story... on one of the plentiful hikes up the "slopes of the elgon mountain" (as the men in the village liked to tell us) - I stopped to pick up a little baby who was sobbing. He had been being held by his maybe 3 years older than him sister- they were about the same size... He stopped crying as soon as I picked him up-so I obviously couldn't just put him down.  Simon, one of the men in the village, cracks me up- the whole time he kept telling me "ok lexis we go we go"- he passed me on the path up the mountain and I asked him why the baby was crying. He told me he was hungry, it was one of the saddest moments of my life.. then Simon pipes in and says "lexis why don't you breast feed him?" uhhh oh..Simon I can't... "why not? he is hungry?" oh just not really capable Simon...  then he walked up to get more rocks, on his way down he yells to me again "lexis! he is hungry! breast feed him!" hahaha that's not even a weird thing for someone here to say so he had no idea why we were laughing so hard. He also couldn't comprehend that at 24 I have never had a child and am literally not capable of just whipping it out and feeding the boy... haha. So great.

 Practicing for the boda!

 babies holding babies! meet stella and miriam.

 huge rocks on their heads!

 so much more talented than me!

relief when they told us we had enough rocks....success!!

urine, jewelry, and a health clinic!

If you had asked me a month ago what I would be doing when I went to Africa I probably would have given a generic- possibly sarcastic answer... never in a million years would I think that I was going to be excited about urine and beads! I am so stoked on these income generating projects for women. Rebecca and I have been researching and researching and are excited to start! I was researching vertical gardens last year and came across a report that was talking about sack gardens in Kenya and how they have long drought seasons so people have started to use sewage lines to water their gardens. At first a had the same reaction you probably just did...euuughhh nasty... so I read it out loud to everyone immediately of course... but as I kept reading I actually got super interested. Turns out pee is a fantastic fertilizer! It makes the veggies bigger and better, they grow faster, and it is a natural pesticide so more plants survive to be fully grown. It also makes for more seeds, which turn out to be the truly profitable part of farming here. The women will be able to grow veggies to feed their families and they will be bigger so there will be more to go around, they will then turn around and sell the seeds making a profit and starting all over! It is going to be so awesome! We are so stoked about the project and there has been quite a few potty jokes going around our house. (we may or may not have a very good septic system at our house and have a few unusual bathroom rules- including the favorite "if it's yellow let it mellow"). We are now going to put that "mellow" to good use! haha. Rebecca, Sam, and I started our own garden today to give it a try before we go and teach village women how to do it next week. We found ourselves scaling the hill/cliff down to the jungle that is our backyard and collecting buckets of dirt...they were much heavier than anticipated! We also went out and collected rocks from the road where we were almost trampled by a herd of cows. I got SO dirty. We had a ton of fun though. We even got the boys to agree to pee in our old water jugs so that we can try it out. We are going to have a man competition and see who can produce better cabbage :) . I am so excited for this project. I know it is kinda gross... but this is really happening all over the world, and SUCCESSFULLY! Who knew we could change the world with pee....

The other project Rebecca and I are really amped on is a bead project. Last year the Help volunteers taught the women how to make paper beads to sell and create incomes. A few of the women got really good at making them, but there is just no market for it here. We decided that we are going to start a website to launch their products. It is such a great opportunity for these women and we can really make a difference in their lives. Plus the jewelry is going to really awesome and stuff people would want to wear anyways. These women are mostly widows and have no other way to care for their family. They are living in the slum and this project will help them to provide for their families and put their children through school.

The last project we are really excited about is a health clinic in Buyanbuyoka. These people are amazing! They are so ready to put it together and build it in 2 weeks. They have all pulled together and are pooling their resources. This clinic would be such a blessing in this little village! We are so excited to help them and get them the health care they need. When we were at the village on Monday they showed us their "clinic" and it was a teeny room with a cabinet in it with basically nothing inside...a couple cotton balls... but then after they crammed us all in this dark dungeon-like mud hut room- they told us that many women had given birth in there, right on that floor.... now if you know me you know that that creeped me out beyond belief! euugghhh! I immediately wanted out but was trapped! Only to realize there was a dirty razor blade on the floor..haha so you see they really need this clinic! We are going to start fundraising soon and I know some people have been asking me how you can help and this is how! I will let you know the details when I know!

So basically... Africa is awesome. I am living a ridiculous life full of things I never thought I would be interested in... 

 Sam and Rebecca are so stoked to put the rocks in... that weigh a million pounds...

 realizing we need MORE dirt and about to go back down the hill to dig more dirt around the trash piles...

 I don't know how I got so muddy... way dirtier than the other two... 

Josh's pee can.... before his first contribution... 

the day when we hiked uphill for an hour, i threw up neon orange on dennis the menace, we were greeted with drums and singing children, and extreme home makeover village edition

Holy hannah, today was quite a day. We woke up super early and got ready to go to Bunabuyoka. It is an hour taxi ride out of town... the taxis are really like combis in mexico- 22 people in a minivan. Bumpy roads. No lanes. People everywhere. Cows in the middle of the road. It's great. When we finally got as far as the road  would take us, we started our hour and a half hike to the village.... treacherous. Uphill the entire way. Hot. I use the excuse that I live at sea level...because I could NOT breathe. Meanwhile Dennis (the menace) was my biggest supporter, telling me he would never leave me behind.  haha... long story short I pretty much threw up neon orange in the most embarrassing of fashions. In the combi/taxi I had eaten some cheese/pb crackers which are that glorious bright orange of fake cheese and let's just say they were pretty bad coming up.....

The hell hills were worth it though for the welcoming that awaiting us! There was guys with drums that met us just outside the village and played an awesome song for us to finish our hike out. As we got closer we could hear singing and could see a mass of kids in the distance. They had practice a song and dance for us and it was so amazing to watch! I was so in love with the village from the minute I walked into it. The people were so excited and friendly. The leaders told us that we were the only mzungus (white people) they had seen besides the HELP team last year (which everywhere I go, every meeting I have people are talking about Devin- I don't know how he did it- so into everything that people remember his name. Everyone is always so excited to find out that I know him and ask a ton of questions about him). Some kids were scared of us, but mostly everyone was excited! They took us into their church and the kids had a performance for us. They are such good dancers! They even tried to teach us to dance at one point- I think Josh has some pretty good videos of that, which I will try and get my hands on.  The elders of the village are so excited to bring development to their tiny village. They were so excited with the school devin built last year that the parents pooled their money and started an addition. They really want their children to be able to go school. It is awesome the effort and money that they are putting in to show that they are really serious about the needs in their village. We want to help them finish the addition and then build a health clinic there as well. These are such good people, they deserve the best. I've never felt the spirit so strong as when these little kids were singing to us. It is a good place. Probably the most beautiful place I have ever been.

We had one really long meeting about the projects and everything had to be translated. So Tess would talk to us and then talk to the community leaders- they would argue/talk amongst themselves and then 5 mins later Tess would translate.... during this meeting It was like planning for as KJ called it "extreme home makeover village edition". They were talking about what the best way to construct the school and the clinic would be.  I was sitting by Cami and Dennis the Menace. He proceeded to tell us how much he wanted a Mzungu wife and that one day God willing, he would. It would be a miracle... Cami, totally oblivious, keeps asking questions about where he will find one and what kind of girl does he like... hahaha she did not get the hint that he was talking about us... he told us that his color and our would make beautiful things... hahahhaha... and this was after I threw up in his general direction.. so haha there's always that....

After the meeting they feed us a huge lunch of posho, matoke, spooma, and avocado. It was actually really good. The best part was that we ate with our fingers... Mushy and gross and everything. The matoke was hot like fire and burning my fingertips. The best part was that everyone was eating with their hands besides the really really old guy with the indiana jones hat next to me... he had a fork.

The walk down the mountain was not as bad, but super muddy and a tiny bit slippery... and steep. It was a quite hilarious walk down as everyone is staring at you and saying hi. The taxi ride was just as good. Crammed in- this time with some pretty heavy african men- for a bumpy hour. Having to pee like nobody's business... I love Africa. Today was absolutely one of the best days of my life. So surreal. 

dennis... the all too friendly guide

awesome kids!!

super beautiful!

remember the time we all know swahili?

I learned something new today... turns out all of the names of the lion king characters are words in swahili. Mallory told us and we verified with David (our night guard) so i'm pretty sure it is true :)  Get ready for your mind to be blown-

simba- lion
rafiki- friend
zazoo- parent
mufasa- king

Apparently the jungle book is all names in hindi... coolest thing ever....

Today was Josh's birthday so we went to Mbale Resort and went swimming. We convinced David to come with us even though he was adamant that he didn't know how to swim and was scared of the water.... We gave him some swimming lessons and it was so much fun. He was terrified but there was all of us mzungu girls surrounding him holding him up. After swimming there was the biggest rainstorm since we have been here- it was ridiculous! There was hail!! Super loud and super cold... our house flooded a bit. Part of our payment for swimming included a shower. I have never been more appreciative of a shower. It was so great.

We went into town with our new friend Yasim and Aaron- they are debatably between ages 15-18 (they go back and forth on the right age... i tend to think it's closer to 15...)  They took us to the market and helped us get fair prices on the food we were buying. The streets are so crazy. Indescribable. The market is so chaotic and lively. There is food everywhere- all over the ground- everyone trying to get you to buy their stuff. We got our first street food today - a rolex- and score i'm not dead! didn't even get sick.

hey mzungu take my picture!

Yesterday was amazing. We got to go out to this village and as soon as we arrived there was a huge group of women there chanting and singing. They pulled us out of the van/ taxi all 16 of us had been crammed into one by one. They were just so excited to see us! They had some songs and even a skit prepared for us to watch. It was one of the best experiences of my life. I can't even describe how cool it was!
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150907518553781&set=vb.740003780&type=2&theater

We also traveled around to different villages where people were just as excited to see us and even wanted to dance with us.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150908641968781&set=vb.740003780&type=2&theater

One thing I have noticed here for sure is that they CAN'T say my name... when even I introduced myself they get a real confused look and then just say...ok... what they CAN say is "hey! mzungu take my picture!" loosely translated to "hey white girl, i see you have a ginormous camera and i want to see what i look like in a picture!" Maybe I should just changed my name to mzungu take my picture... it's a much more successful call name... I kid you not every time I walk down  the street someone asks me if I will take a picture of them. I think it is kind of fun and totally makes it easier for me to ask when I actually do want a picture of someone because now I am 90% sure that they secretly really do want me to take one!

Here are some examples of people who have just asked me or insisted that I take their picture- slow internet  makes for not so many pictures...

 These guys were calling over to us for like 5 minutes before I would go over and take their pictures

 This woman was so excited to see my camera and wanted a picture of her daughter

 The kids are always stoked on life- little finger prints all over my lens as they try and grab my camera 

 There is always the shy ones off to the side that won't ask at first but then can't get enough once I take one

 These guys said they were the chiefs of the village and were REAL interested in my taking their picture... they were pretty drunk and had me take pictures of them from all parts of their plots... Luckily Ryan had my back and followed us around the alleyways behind their huts and what not...

 An example of people who just stop me on the street and ask me to take their pictures

This woman was at the village yesterday and was photobombing every picture! She just kept jumping in and then grabbing my picture to see the results!

If you haven't looked at these pictures yet you can take a look at them too https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151732313735417.852733.699820416&type=1

mzungu! mzungu!

Yikes. I have no right to the life I lead. We toured the namatala slums today and it was one of the most heart breaking things I have ever done. Shouts of “mzungu! mzungu!” at first had us really excited – like we were celebrities- it was fun and we were having a great time just making people smile. Then we went into the slum and were surrounded by children running up to us, touching us-wearing ripped clothes if they have clothes on at all. Off to the side the women who are hanging back shy but you could tell that they were excited too. The kids LOVE having their picture taken. They tried to jump into every shot possible and always always want to see what it looks like. I could tell that the women wanted their pictures taken too but were too shy or embarrassed to ask. I found that I like to take the pictures of the people that are standing off to the side- the ones that you can just see a story in their face. I really wanted to include everyone. I ended up with a million pictures because every person in the village wanted a picture just of themselves. There was just such joy in their faces when they saw themselves on the screen.

Their huts were so small. No more than 4 of us could fit in at one time, yet they sleep in average 9 people in each.  The kids get one meal a day at school through Child of Hope (the organization we will be working with). The family usually has about 1000 shillings a day to feed their whole family of 9-11 which is about 40 cents.  That blows my mind. It was hard to carry around my camera which could probably pay for the whole village. There are so many people in need. They told us that the men in this slum tend to be alcoholics and abusive. Child of Hope is trying to empower women. They say that if you empower the man he will take his success and leave his family and drink his money away, but if you empower a woman then she will stay in the home and teach her children to be better. There are so many single mothers who keep having children trying to find a man to stay around and provide for her and her family. Prostitution is also a huge problem because it is one of the only sources of income that young girls can provide to their impoverished families. They told us that 20% of the population in Namatala has HIV and that only 1 in 7 children reach the age of 5 years old. It breaks my heart. I don’t even know how to start to comprehend.

All I could do today was give them the simple joy of taking their pictures. I wish that there was a way that I could take pictures of people and be able to give them a copy right away. Where is a good Polaroid camera when you need one?! I just know that these people would treasure that picture so much! It would be a dream come true to be able to do some sort of photo project like that in a place like this. I know you can’t change their way of life- as much as we would like to, it is a slow moving process- but I could give them something tangible to treasure. 

I am just blown away by today. I want to help. I want to be a part of every project. I don’t even know where to start! These are some of the pictures I took today in the slums. I can never decide if I should upload them to the blog or to fb…

 this little boy just ran up and grabbed my pinky and wouldn't let go

 both women and children were so excited to see themselves 

 tell me you aren't in love with this picture! this grandma was giggling like a little girl when i showed her!

 hahaha such a cheeser!

 this is where they get their drinking water... so not ok.

 i just thought this woman was so beautiful- turns out she is one of the teachers at the child of hope school 

 she was a little confused by the camera at first but then so happy when she saw the result!

 her friend wanted a picture too when she saw!

this little girl was so shy and just gently tugged my arm as everyone else was walking away..her family is in the background waiting for her to come. i see hope for the next generation in this picture...

hello...i'm fine!

Life in Mbale is so good. I can't describe how awesome it is to be here. I am loving every minute of it. There are times in my life that it hits me that I am just so happy and couldn't imagine my life any better and today was one of those days. We were riding on the back of a boda on the way to church and I couldn't help but just appreciate how awesome my life really is... I don't want to take that for granted. People are so great here. Obviously everyone is staring at us all of the time- there is no possible way to fit in at all... so I have taken to just saying hi whenever I see anyone at all. I just say hello to everyone on the street- I feel like i'm in China again except this time I am the one that just repeats hello, hello, hello, over and over again. The Ugandans in response to this ALWAYS say "i'm fine" haha it makes no sense at all. I say hello and they say i'm fine -and sometimes branch as far as how are you... but then what do you ask in response? I mean they already told you they were fine! So one day Jan, Jennilyn, and I were walking home and I said hi to this little boy and I swear he said "have fun!" I was so excited by the difference in speech that I pretty much enthusiastically yelled at him "you have fun too!" Meanwhile the other girls bust up laughing because apparently he just used the good ol' i'm fine response....my bad.

 This is the clock tower in  the middle of town. On our first day here we were sent on a scavenger hunt to find out about Mbale. One of the questions was what is little london and where is it. My team was Jan and Jennilyn- before we asked anyone what it was good ol' janny (what I like to call Jan and Jennilyn when I am talking to both of them) guessed that maybe that was little london- referencing big ben maybe... so when we asked someone and they pointed at the tower we assumed we were right... hahah nope. didn't find out until that night at our meeting and I brought it up...embarr..

 Today when we got to church everyone was so friendly and awesome. I look a little crazy in this picture but this is Isaac. He just climbed right over the chairs and sat down right next to me. He is 4 yrs old and my new best friend. He was trying to tickle me, playing with my hair- putting it in my face, his face, and then just straight up pulling on it!, and then he just passed out laying on my lap. It just made me so happy.

Speaking of church all day we are introducing ourselves to people and let me tell you it is kind of hard to understand them when they talk so you kind of feel stupid asking over and over again what? what? but then again none of them could say my name. They kept calling me texas haha. Apparently texas is easier to say and sound exactly the same as Alexis to the Ugandans.... there is a group of 21 yr old boys and they were trying to learn every ones names and kept forgetting mine and then being like oh yeh who is texas? hahaha... nice.

Some boda boda drivers who are real real friendly....

Uganda reminds me of China in a lot of ways- as in there in no personal space bubbles at all. There are no lines. People kind of just push their way to the front and hope for the best. On the other hand where Chinese food was questionable most of the time..I find that I am really enjoying Ugandan food! Everything our cook Sam makes is so good. I had something called a rolex the other day which is chapati (kind of like tortilla bread) with a really good omelette  rolled inside of it. They are super delicious.

Pretty much I can't wait to get started on our projects. We are going to start touring the different types of things we can do this week and I am stoked.

this is real life

Amsterdam! We decided we wanted to have the local food and got frites with mayo on them... not good...

 some girl came up and asked if we would wear this to support breast cancer

 the group! we finally arrived at the house after like 38 hrs!!

 our backyard!

 the cutest baby ever!

 we went on a scavenger hunt today and met the coolest people!

 i met god today!

 and bruno mars and sean john 

 we herded goats! 

 saw this little girl on our walk home - drenched-and smelling like goats- i think we scared her a bit 

my bed. our mosquito nets... it makes my eyes burn!!

This was our first real day in uganda- we went on a scavenger hunt and had to find a bunch of things and take pictures- it was so fun. we broke up into teams and walked around and met new people and talked to everyone. it was so fun. everyone is really really friendly. I was nervous about asking people to take their pictures because that's awkward but then i feel like a creep just taking them - but i found out that everyone is usually really interested in having their pictures taken. it's actually fun because you can have a good convo with them and make them laugh then getting a picture. i think it makes it better because then i have a back story for my pictures. i'm loving it here. i can't wait to get started working! 

trekking the globe

The trip has begun! To start I flew out of Phoenix to Minneapolis and my flight was set to arrive in at 6:34pm but my connecting flight to Amsterdam was boarding at 6:30pm…of course we were late- who planned that?! I had to run through and barely made my flight. Cami was waiting for me when I arrived in Amsterdam and we went out to enjoy the city… it actually wasn’t that cool… the buildings are old and cool to look at but unless you want to smoke pot… not that many things to do… we went on a boat ride but Cami fell asleep- I think that adequately describes how exciting it was….then it was raining and cold so we just went back to the airport.

After another 8 and a half hr flight we got to Kenya where we met up with the rest of our team. Then another flight to Uganda- after a 5 hr bus ride we made it to Mbale. The ride was crazy! We were all exhausted and a probably a little delirious. Africa is nothing like I pictured… it reminded me of a mix of china and mexico. I already love it! It is so beautiful here. I can’t even described it!

Our house is pretty awesome. We have 4 girls in our room and have been setting up our mosquito nets in the complete dark (well with head lamps) because the power doesn’t work in our part of the house.. haha and I may have had the most interesting shower experience of my life… picture a really tiny pitch black bathroom lit up by your tiny head lamp, no shower curtain, dirty weird creepy stuff on the walls on floor…bugs everywhere… turn on the water and the shower head flew off! HAH so I’m yelling and then my roomies are trying to come in as I yell “I’m naked! I’m naked!” when I finally got my giant sham-wow ( backpacker towel) around me- very absorbent!- they came in to see the damage but mostly laugh at me…. I finally braved the freezing cold shower as it randomly turned on and off… look forward to that for the next 3 months!!!

ps. they decided that we get to work on devin’s school and I will get to stay in that village for a couple nights a week! I am so excited to help!!