the time a boy wrote me a love song and gave me a live chicken

Love this kid so much.

Well you know how much I love Simon- turns out he has the cutest little sister and I love her too! Her name is Jaclyn and she is quite possibly one of the cutest kids I have ever seen.

Jaclyn!!!!

This week we went up to Bunabuyoka to hang out with the kids and talk about the language school they want to start up there. It had been forever since I had been and I missed Simon! (and the other kids of course). As soon as we got there the kids came running out of the school and gave us hugs. It is the best feeling in the world when a little African kid remembers your name! So the shouts of Alexis! automatically puts me in a good mood. Which is good considering riding on the taxi smashed with 24 people in a van always makes me a bit cranky… (we discussed that middle middle on the airplane ride home would be a welcome spacious journey compared to African travel!) Simon of course ran up to me and told me he had something for me but I was a little confused as to what he was talking about so just gave him and hug and moved on.

Simon and his note/song!

Later I was talking to Jared the school teacher, which by the way MIND BLOWN- his name is Gerald! haha the whole summer we have been calling him Jared and I will continue to call him that-fits much better, and he told me that Simon had something for me. He motioned for Simon and he came running down and handed me a note. It turns out it was a song and it was so cute. He sang it for me and I loved it. Ha as the other girls pointed out- first time a boy wrote a song for me…and I didn’t hate it! 

Jared/ Gerald

Later that day we were hanging out with Jared and tall skinny teacher Simon and they are obsessed with the Princess Pat! We sang it to the kids once and they love it. I have literally never seen so many grown men dancing and singing to the Princess Pat.  We also got them to teach us a little African dance which was super funny. We were all laughing and then Jared was like “oh! I almost forgot! the boy brought you a chicken” …. uh what? yup Simon brought me a chicken! I felt so bad because his family can’t eat sometimes and here they are giving me a chicken! What am I supposed to do with a chicken?! I tried to turn it down but didn’t want to offend as Jared assured me I would if I didn’t take it…They made me hold it and thought I was the funniest person in the world when I called it chicky chick… I just really didn’t know how to react… I was so flattered by the present and the obvious ultimate sacrifice in Africa. Jared told me of course it wasn’t extra- there is never extra- but it is a sign of friendship. I mean he gets up at 5 am everyday to walk up the Hell Hill just to make it to school on time (it’s about an hr walk) and he did it holding a live chicken! He also takes care of his cute little sister on the way. It just made me love him all the more. Apparently the only thing I need to love a boy is a song and a live chicken haha. Sara (the woman we stay with) made it for dinner! Chicky chick is no more!

Some of my favorite village guys dancing! They love the princess pat!

This picture cracks me up- mostly because they don't think twice about  the hand holding... especially in a place that it is illegal to by gay....

He got me a what?

Finally comfortable with Chicky Chick

Sorry mom... this is chicky chick after... I of course had to eat it- I would be a terrible person if I didn't eat the poor boys chicken!

Cami and I have not been on a real project together all summer and are thinking about running an eye camp in Buna. The team in Lugazi had 800 pairs of glasses donated and they have nowhere to put them. We are thinking it would be really cool to do a camp and do a bunch of eye exams and then leave the extra glasses in the brand new clinic that we built! Then they will always be there when people need them. I am excited to finally work with Cami on something!

I just love Cami so much! Believe it or not..we are dancing haha

The beading women are doing good and we are excited to start them out on some new designs soon. As for the urine project…we are officially finished! So much cooler in PDF form… it still makes me shudder thinking about the pouring of Ryan’s pee we did… but on the plus side the women are super stoked! Also I found out that the people in Buna are using urine as fertilizer! haha I was just joking with them today when we were helping the kids plant beans for their agriculture project and they were like uh of course! haha.

Jaclyn and Simon!

I just love it here.