wanji?!

I haven't been in the united states for the fourth of july in so long... I guess summers are for traveling? It didn't really feel like a holiday- we went about our usual business and best day ever- we got to tell the women that we are going to buy necklaces from them! They were so excited. We definitely got a few AYE AYE AYES! It feels good to finally talk openly with the women about the website and tell them why we need to have it a certain way. I really want to be here to see the start of their businesses! I am looking into possibly changing my flight so I can see the project through- but i'm debating prices.

Annette and her design! She is my apaperero (friend)!

Rebecca and Veronica with her design

After beading we went home to our 4th of July extravaganza! We had SO much food! We made pretty much everything you would have in the states. We also had all of the Americans we know (aka the elders) over and then our favorite African friends were also invited. We played volleyball and ate A LOT. We had so much extra food. Cami and I were talking to Freddy and he was joking with us telling us that we needed to eat more food because there are starving kids in Africa- we told him that people say that all the time in the states. I asked him how we could give it to the starving kids, and Freddy is so awesome he just picked up and said let's go! He said last year they used to have huge dinners and then give the extras to the street kids all the time. So off we went, trash cans full of coleslaw in hand (we got creative, we don't have very many dishes) to go feed the street kids. Freddy told me he was my body guard and that it would be safe. We went to town and Fred took us to the place where the street kids sleep. They all know him (he is actually pretty famous in Mbale, a radio DJ that everyone loves) they lined up for us and we handed out plates and served what we had. They were so cute, and surprisingly polite. There were some older guys there too though that were trying to push the little boys out of the way. They all smelled strongly of paint thinner and Freddy told us it is pretty common. Huffing the paint thinner makes you lose your appetite. There was a little boy named Henry that told us he was 13 (he was TINY) and that he went to school up to P7 but his father abused him so much that he ran away from home. It was so humbling. One of the most heart wrenching 4th of Julys that i've ever had.... considering last year I was in Verona, eating gelato and walking around lago di garda. I can't believe the stark difference in one year to the next. I'm grateful for all of the opportunities I have had.

 Pineapple upside down cake! Made on the charcoal stove pictured below- our cook Sam is amazing!

 Who doesn't boil eggs outside? Deviled eggs? yes please.

Last night we painted paper for the beads... like Rebecca says our beginnings section could be a million pages long. We literally were sitting in our house painting old magazines, trying to get the graphics not to show, while getting paint all over us and stuck to us- never to come off, we couldn't find
places to keep all of the wet painted papers- they are currently scattered all around our house with no real places to walk..500 sheets of painted paper = only half of the necklaces we need to make!

We printed our first business plan! We gave it to Child of Hope when we had our meeting about becoming partners! 

shamba'd.

This last week has been quite the week.... it seemed like everything went wrong.

Tuesday Rebecca and I were excited because we were going to take pictures of where Martha works- she works at the medical school as a cleaning women- when we got there though she had already finished her work so we just sat down and talked with her. She told us her story and it is incredible! She is an amazing woman. She wants to start a casava business and has everything worked out but just doesn't have the start up capital. She doesn't know about the 1000 Shillings website yet, but we hope that the money she earns from selling necklaces will help her reach her goal! When we were leaving we saw a big pile of rusty beds sitting outside, we are building the clinic in bunabuyoka and happen to need hospital beds so we decided to ask if we could have one. We got as the Ugandans like to say "tossed about" a lot. We were sent from one office to the next and then told we had to come back later. Meanwhile we are just walking around the hospital which is insane! There are no real waiting rooms and everyone is just outside chillin- open wounds, IV ports coming out of little kid's heads and then the maternity ward just out in the open...could have potentially been very traumatizing but luckily I saw nothing... the mental hospital is also just in the middle and there were a bunch of guys in all white handcuffed together that was super shutter island and creepster... basically we didn't get the beds...

After that fail we decided to go try the milkshakes at the internet cafe that everyone had been talking about... even bringing Ashley to tears...and it's true they were dang good... first real ice cream i've had since i've been here... the let down was I immediately noticed the coconut ripping my chest apart.. I of course wasn't carrying any medicine so I just went across the street to the shiv (a supermarket) and got some water. It wasn't my worst reaction but not great. We had meetings the rest of the day so I went to those without getting any medicine. I went to institute that night and my reaction was getting worse so I kind of wanted a blessing but no one was there to give me one. I said a little prayer that maybe the elders would show up so they could give me one but they never go to institute - I was so surprised when I walked out the door and they were standing there! An appointment had fallen through and they had just stopped by. It was really cool. Also after receiving the blessing my reaction ended and didn't continue into the next day as usual.

Wednesday we went back to Martha's work to try and video her awesome story. BIG FAIL. Rebecca and I realized that we are NOT videographers. It was the worst. I can't even tell you how bad it was. We tried with different cameras later that day at beading and still a fail. All you can hear is birds CA CAW CA CAW! Super annoying. Then the beads the women had were covered in dirt with bugs dried into them... so we decided we needed to paint the paper for them first because they don't have room in their 1 room huts to dry a bunch of paper... the paint we used took FOREVER to get off our hands not to mention dry- and Cam and I had to sleep in the living room because the paint fumes were so bad and I had delirious dreams about getting malaria because I wasn't sleeping under a net! Ha.

Thursday we went to Kamonkoli and Kakoli as always (the urine project) we were supposed to have a guest speaker but he didn't show up!! It was terrible. We had to wing it for 2 hrs and had nothing prepared! Beading made the day better though. Our women were so excited and a lot of the necklaces are really coming together! Rebecca and I got really sick though and I'm not sure why...

Friday I was sick all day.. I was throwing up and it was not nice. It's the weirdest feeling though because i'm super hungry but then when I eat anything it's the worst.

Today we went to play soccer at the church and were shamba'd turns out it was the church clean up instead haha.

Even though things get frustrating here, i'm still so excited to be here and I love (almost) every minute of it. Rebecca and I just keep laughing when we have days like that saying when we look back at our "beginnings" as 1000 Shillings we are going to have the best stories!

1000 Shillings!!!!

Great news on the bead front!! These women are amazing! They are so excited and motivated to make the necklaces. We started working with them to improve the designs of their necklaces and it is better than anticipated! They look great! Last year the women were taught how to make paper beads but then were left with no market to sell them in. Here in Mbale and surrounding areas, the market is pretty saturated. So the women of Namatala had this new skill but they had no place to sell and became super discouraged. Our goal was to help them differentiate themselves and gain new skills. Then we decided we wanted to give them access to a global marketplace and have decided to start a business! We have named it 1000 Shillings (the amount of money the families in Namatala live off a day - about $0.40) . This new international market will give these women the opportunity to supplement their incomes.  We also want to be able to tell the story of each of these women and their families and communities. It will be like a travel magazine mixed with an ecommerce site. 

Meet the ladies!!!  

This is Veronica, she is the happiest lady ever! I love her smile! She is so willing to learn and is easy to laugh. We had the opportunity on Saturday to go and see her house and meet her family. Her husband left her awhile back and we couldn't distinguish quite how many children she actually has but she takes care of at least 10 kids. The kids were out working in the field and we got to go visit them and see them at work.

This is Ida. She is our rock star! She is the only one of the ladies that had continued from last year. She has been making beads and trying to sell them in her spare time (which isn't a lot). She picked the most complicated of the designs we offered and is doing super well! Her necklace had 730 beads! She is very dedicated and wants to own her own business one day. I really think she can. She tries to sell charcoal now but most of the time doesn't make a profit. We want to start teaching them business skills so that one day Ida and the rest of the women will be able to stand on their own as confident business women.

This is Esther. She is so funny. She loves to laugh and was so proud of her first necklace. She has been living in Namatala since her husband "chased her out" as she told me. She speaks English but is super shy. She was my partner this last week and we put this necklace together as a team! When it's finished the top with have a leather strap or possibly braided african fabric. We are really excited about this one!

Martha came out of nowhere! The first time we met with the bead ladies there were only 5 of them. Then one day Martha showed up and we are happy to have her! She is so on top of the game that when we met last not only had she completed her homework of making enough beads for her assigned necklace- but she had already varnished them! She is also quick to smile and has really good English. We got to meet all of her kids on Saturday as well. It was really cool to talk to them and see their mom's influence. She is a great asset to 1000 Shillings!

 This is Elizabeth, I admit we were a little worried about her at first- but she has turned out to be a front runner! I love her necklace! Rebecca was paired up with her last week and they had a lot of fun making what we affectionately call The Elizabeth. She is very shy and timid at first and then opens up and loves laughing with the women. I think the women appreciate this time together beading- maybe it helps them to forget for just a minute.

This is Annette. I absolutely love her. She is so friendly and has one of the cutest babies in the world! She is always wearing that neon green do-rag (spelling?) and it makes me laugh. She is usually right on time for our meetings (which is a definite accomplishment in uganda! ugandans tend to be at least an hour late! admittedly!)

These women are so great and I am excited to start being able to sell their stuff. It will make such a huge difference in their lives! Hopefully rent, school fees, food, and running their businesses won't be so much of a problem anymore! Plus I think I might of found something that I would actually be happy doing with my life... as seen by past experiences i'm not really great at staying in one place- but right now I have a yr and a half plan and I don't even feel claustrophobic about it! I get to combine my love of traveling with my love of photography. We want to branch out to different countries and spotlight collections from different women's groups all over the world. Rebecca has connections in Nepal so we want to start there after Uganda, but are also interested in going to women in the United States, as well as Mexico for this year. I'm excited for the opportunity to tell these women's stories- the aim is to let you get to know her as I have. I think this is such a cool concept! So...stay tuned!

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...