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!

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. 

SIMON!

Let me tell you about Simon... He is my new best friend. I had noticed this kid around before... how could I not? Look at that as the Ugandans would call it "smart jacket". He is always wearing it! He looks like a little man and is so funny. He reminds me of Dante a little bit with his facial expressions and when he is pretending to flirt with the girls and what not. He is 9 years old and the coolest kid. I learned a little bit about his background and it is heartbreaking. 

Simon comes from a very abusive home, his father used to beat him and his siblings very badly. CFAI found them and came to their aid. He is one of the children that CFAI (they are our partner in building the clinic in Bunabuyoka) has kind of taken in as their own. He lives at the bottom of the mountain now with his siblings and mother and his father is not around. Everyday Simon walks 3 miles up what you all know I like to call the hell hill just to go to school. He is a very dedicated student. His teacher, Jared (aka attractive teacher), told me he is one of the best in the class. He came up to me one night and pulled on my arm after we had been working all day and shyly whispered that he was hungry. It was heartbreaking. I literally had no food because we eat what the village feeds us. A little while later the men were eating posho and I tried to get Simon to go get some but he told me they said no. So I walked him over hand in hand and used my mzungu skills to get him a plate. I wish everything was that easy! 

When I asked Simon what he wanted to be when he grew up he said a pilot! He wants to be able to fly to America someday. Children here often don't have very lofty goals for themselves. They don't dream of what they want to become because- in all reality it probably won't happen. School fees are out of control. It is more expensive to go to university here than BYU tuition is. These people just don't have the money. Even high school in about $200 a term! The government doesn't sponsor schools so the kids have to basically pay the teachers. I am so happy that Simon has a dream! I really hope he does it!

I wish I had one of those little kids airplane wings that I could pin on his little man jacket and I can just envision his Lifetime movie now... He keeps the future pilot pin his whole life as inspiration to become a real life pilot and then one day when his dreams come true he flies to America as promised and comes to visit me! Ha if only it were so easy!!

I have also decided that he is going to marry Hailey (my niece). I even showed him a picture of her and he obviously didn't understand what I was saying but just kind of laughed... I think they would be perfect! 

Oh yeh best part is... he remembers my name! Ugandans as a whole STRUGGLE with my name. They just can't say it! Well Simon calls me lex! and he came up with it all on his own! Ok it is more like "lak" but we are working on it :) . It is the cutest thing ever! When we are carrying sand up a mountain or passing bricks to build the clinic he is always eager to stand right next to me. These kids are SO strong! Where we struggle lifting the sand and carrying it to the next person in our line to the top of the mountain they practically run it! We literally couldn't build the clinic without their help! They are our best helpers! and are eager for the results!

Moral of the story- I love this kid. I'm grateful for the opportunity to meet such a strong little boy who still has a dream even after such a rough life at just age 9. If he can do it, I can do it. 

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...