Annette

Annette is one of the strongest women I know. I have been thinking about the women a lot lately while we are working on 1000 Shillings and decided to write a little bit about the women we work with.

 Annette is always laughing. She has had such a hard life, but she is almost always happy. She has a gift for making everyone laugh and feel comfortable.

Annette works so hard for her family. She gave up on men long ago- culturally Ugandan men are not so reliable. Alone she provides for her children doing anything and everything she can do to support them- she takes any opportunity she can and is full of ambition.

 Even though her house is small, and her family doesn't always have food, Annette makes sure her children are happy. I have never seen happier kids.

Rebecca and I were always walking around taking pictures and hanging out with the women. Everyone in Namatala (well almost everyone...) loved having their pictures taken! I wished a million times that I could have printed the pictures out and given them to them. It could have made them happy for just that day ! It would have been enough!

 Annette got to try out the camera and she was excited beyond all reason! Silver (her son) was a little upset that she put him down to play with the camera, but he got over it when he got to see the picture :)

 To try and make a living for her family, Annette is a seamstress, she got a sewing machine from an NGO a couple years back, and is very talented at making clothes. The only problem is that the people of Namatala don't have much money to buy new clothes, so Annette supplements that by trying to sell mangoes and other veggies in front of her house.

Annette is just so amazing! She calls me her apapero (friend in her native tongue Ateso) She leads the music at her church and is just one of the happiest people I have met. Annette made this necklace to try and raise money to start a small business to support her family. http://www.1000shillings.com/portfolio/the-annette/

Just working with all these women and researching all of these empowering women companies to try and work with, has made me see how thankful I am for my life. I'm thankful that I have the opportunity to help people, and I know it's not much and I wish I could do more, but I saw a quote today that said "Do to one that you wish you could do to millions."  

I miss Annette, and all the ladies we worked with! I miss Uganda all the time! 

1000 Shillings has a webpage now!

Mulembe, Aloha, Hey!!

I haven't written since i've been back but we have been working hard to get 1000 Shillings ready for launch in November! It is coming up so quick! I don't know- in Uganda this was always the goal, but I wasn't sure anything like this would ever happen... we are so grateful that our dreams are happening! Our website is up and looking awesome! www.1000shillings.com . I'm so proud of it!

If this works out for us it is my dream job! I get to help women, take pictures, and travel a bit but not be gone for months at a time. Plus these women just deserve it! They are so amazing! I loved working closely with the women of Namatala- becoming their friends. I hope that if you follow 1000 Shillings you will get to know these women too!

Rebecca and I have decided that Nepal is the next destination for 1000 Shillings, Rebecca was there right before Uganda and has a group of talented women in mind. I'm just so grateful that we could help the women of Namatala, and i'm excited to expand and help these other women too.

I just want this to work so bad! I love these women and I love the work! I have never enjoyed a "job" so much!

We are actually up for a grant from this awesome site called Good Maker and it's based on votes! If you are one of the 5 people that reads my blog you probably have already voted.. but if you haven't... http://empowerwomen.maker.good.is/projects/1000shillings !! Every vote counts!

the after effect....

I have been back for a week now and it has been a crazy adjustment from cold showers, mosquito nets, mud huts, and chapati to big beds, swimming pools, and watching tv. It is weird to remember I can shower everyday, I can use my cell phone and talk to people, and that I don't have to let the yellow mellow! I miss the people, the chaos, the kids, inside jokes, and having something to do everyday. It was the best most frustrating time of my life. Everything is in extremes in Uganda. I had some of the best and then some of the worst days in my life. For example let me back up and tell about my last days in Uganda....

who doesn't love a good awkward pencil picture with the elders?

Tennis lessons with Ayub- the best. Lots and lots of "watch the ball"  " come on!" "focus" followed by motioning the racket in the way I was apparently supposed to swing and failed him once again... I am the WORST tennis player and he plays in the uganda open... you can see how he might get frustrated but he is the nicest and just laughs at me haha.

concentration face...

I love this kid so much! The 3 of us are going to be the best roommates ever!

Going to the village and saying bye- the worst. Simon was so upset when I told him I was going back to the states. I didn't know how to say goodbye to him. Mix that emotion with the fact that we were doing dental camp and some of my favorite kids are getting their teeth ripped out.. was a traumatic experience for everyone!

saying bye to all the school kids!

simon!

we have matching bracelets to remember each other

Saying bye to the beading women- the worst.

Staying the night in the zoo - THE BEST! Kara's flight out was on the 10th and mine was on the 12th so we decided to stay in Entebbe and hang out before I left. All I wanted to do was go to the zoo and see a zebra in africa! There were so many ups and downs of the weekend- to a ridiculous extent. It started with us trying to get dinner at the abandoned zoo restaurant (all lights off) and the staff trying to convince us they were open- so much so that they opened the garage door pull down thing so we would get light from the kitchen... no lights in the dining area... they were shocked when we wanted to leave for some reason..The next day was fun but it didn't really get good until we met Robert. Mallory had the idea to flirt with the man in the turtle enclosure and see if he would let us feed the monkeys.. those keens got her all sorts of places and they didn't fail us in Entebbe!

Robert the zookeeper!

He told us we couldn't feed the monkeys because the 2nd person into the enclosure was always thought of as an enemy and the monkeys would attack. As exciting as that sounded... we decided to avoid that. He let us feed the giraffes though and it was amazing! He also called the rhinos over for us and we were pretty much in zoo heaven. What topped off the day making it the best though is when we convinced Rob to take us to see the secret baby elephant! They let him out of his pen and he ran around and played with us.. it wasn't until AFTER we touched him that they told us Charles was still in quarantine... haha great. In the middle of the ebola outbreak and here we are touching the bush animals.. feeding wild monkeys gnuts, holding hands with chimps, and playing with a quarantined elephant... but worth it!

Mal and I trying to be zookeepers.. we wish we were black...

good ol albert brenneman 

albert

the cresssted crane! (you can't say that with out a cool accent)

if i could be at the zoo with any 4 people...

don't touch the bush animals!

baby chuck!

ebola

finally saw that zebra!

jennifer before she got sick...

That night we went to dinner at a chinese restaurant and the owner is from the same small town that I lived in when I was in china! How random is that?! In all of China from the same place and in all the world we happened to be in the same town in Uganda? super random. After dinner we decided to walk to get cake.. bad idea. We were walking and Cami noticed a guy walking behind us.. she started walking closer to us and we were all joking about him and if he was going to kidnap us - stuff like that- we even looked back and made eye contact with him joking... apparently 5 girls and eye contact are not something to deter him though. Rebecca was wearing a double strap anti left bag and had it under her arm, between the two of us. All the sudden I thought she was tripping (we were on the side of the road and it was pretty narrow and went down into a ditch) I was about to laugh at her and looked over and realized it was the man pulling her down- my really good reflexes allowed for me to yell "NO" and that's about it. Sam started screaming and Cami lunged toward them. Rebecca didn't really do anything because she thought it was one of us tugging on her bag as a joke since we had just been talking about it. He ripped the bag right off of her and then disappeared on the other side. We all just kind of stood around in shock, he had taken her nice DSLR camera, her iphone, some of our 1000 Shillings products, her wallet (we had just gone to the atm), and her uganda phone, and no less important my cake and gnuts haha. As we were walking back we were all a little bit freaked (understandably I think) and holding onto each other. At one point a man came running towards us and as Rebecca pointed it out we all just stood there waiting for whatever would happen. Then a different man jumped out at us and everyone freaked.. it took a minute until I recognized him as Robert the zookeeper that had just made the best day of our lives happen... we told him what happened and he was real nice and helped us get back to the zoo.  When we got back Rebecca realized that all she had left was 1000 Shillings- we took that as symbolism all we had left was 1000 Shillings!

literal 1000 shillings.

The flight home was looooong- so loooong. but now i'm home and trying to decide what I should do next in my life... always the question. Where to live, what to do, how to do it... 

ebola, cholera, malaria- eeee!

So I’m sure you have all heard about the ebola outbreak by now- but my lack of posting has nothing to do with that… one of my African friends here though was talking to me about it and in his typical Ugandan accent said “ebola and cholera and malaria- eeeee!” it reminded me of lions and tigers and bears oh my! haha. People here are so used to this type of thing, it is again NBD. Nobody is particularly concerned here... we joke about it a lot, but I really don't think it is going to be an issue...so no worries... I know everyone is worried.

Sam is my dance partner AND my new tennis partner

On Friday Sam and I had a tennis lesson with our new favorite African named Ayub. I have not played tennis since I was about 7 and took tennis lesson for a week… so I obviously sucked real bad. Sam on the other hand played on the tennis team in high school… Ayub kept saying things like “come on” “focus” “watch the ball” and then the occasional “good” even though his face showed it was most definitely not good. haha he was cracking us up! We actually beat him 1 game out of 6 and made sure to let everyone know! 

Afterwards we went to imbalu, which is the circumcision festival. It only happens on even years and is a BIG deal here. We were a little hesitant to go because it was in essence a bunch of men hopped up and testosterone blazing… but we got a special invitation to sit with the president of Kenya, and I wasn’t about to miss the cultural experience of a lifetime (ebola or not) and we made our way to the festival (it was at a huge field out of town). It was CRAZY right from the boda ride there. Rodg my favorite boda picked us up and we started- along the way we ran into a couple MASSIVE circumcision parades. Each boy that is going to be circumcised has a parade of people dancing and playing drums and holding spears and singing and just generally supporting him. As mzungus though, we cause quite the stir. It  was ridiculous. Rodg valiantly tried to drive THROUGH the parade and the people were amped and for some reason pinching us and hitting us and yelling (not angry but yelling all the same) and at one point someone hit rodg’s glasses off his face and since I was in the middle closest to him I grabbed them and then was protecting his head because obviously I want his hands on the handlebars! As I was defending the rodg though someone hit me in the head with some sort of stick! Super not cool. Ha.

Rodg! right after he let cami drive!

We finally made our way through the chaos and to the festival and at this point think this is the what? worst idea we ever had.  We started to make our way to the important people tent and randos kept running/stampeding towards us as they ran away from the policemen that they were throwing sticks at. It was out of control- so the police threw some tear gas into the mix. Luckily we were already on our way to the tent and weren’t affected. Just saw the people running on the other side of the fence. We had Ayub and David with us and it was sad how the Ugandans treat their own people. We were ushered into the tent no questions asked, just because we were white… Ayub got hit by the policemen and pushed out before we realized what was happening and told them he was with us. It was real sad.  Inside the tent there was no chaos- just the hottest place on earth. All the important people were there though so when the boys started their traditional dances we got to see everything and it was really cool. Def worth the chaos at the beginning. Total national geographic stuff. We didn’t actually see any circumcisions, and I felt insensitive taking pictures of the poor boys walking away with their African lavalavas trying not to cry… It was a really cool experience.

AYUB! 

Saturday we went and hiked Sipi Falls. It was beautiful. HUGE waterfalls in the middle of the jungle, can’t get better than that.  We also fulfilled me lifelong dream of holding a chameleon! I wanted one SO bad when I was little- but I was never allowed to have one… I was so excited to see the first one that the little trail guide boys found at least 8 for us to play with! It was the best! They make everyone so happy!  We got to jump into a frigid river with at least 3 men that were completely naked and bathing- our bad- and it was so cold! Ayub jumped in first and I followed- he basically had to pull me out of the current. It was FREEZING and the current was pretty strong but just more shocking. When Sam got out though she had a leech on her! I obviously did not handle this very well and did this whole ehhh ehhhhh ehhhhhh thing while shaking my hands at her haha. She was understandably freaking out not knowing why I was freaking out and then Cami flicked it off of her. Ha. gross.

and i will name him... pascal 

so excited. 

I leave in one week from today and I am so sad about it. I can’t believe it has come so fast! I am going to miss it here so much.

flowers and another love song...

Just a few pictures of my day...

 Cam and I went to the village today and Simon had another surprise for me... he brought me flowers! Haha and another love song... out of control! He is so cute and happy though!

 Damalie was not interested in getting off my lap so I could take a picture with Simon and the flowers..

 Teaching Simon and Jaclyn to shaka

 Simon and Jaclyn's mom! 

I love this family!