Lest you think I have forgotten them

Since I am actually home now and not actually IN Africa any longer, life has continued its normal crazy pace once again. Motherhood is back in full swing and not slowing down anytime soon. I have only been back a week, but with the holiday and family in town it has been full excitement . . .

Playing at the Park:

Colonial Days:

Provo Freedom Festival:

Corbin and Cody with their Colorado cousins Haley, Lexi and Levi

Riding the Firetruck in the Murray Parade:

(Colton got to hang out and watch the parade with Aunt Megan. One year olds don't sit so well on tp of a moving firetruck, especially for an hour and a half. Thanks Aunt Megan!!)

Horseback Riding:

And sparklers, of course!

We also played at the Spanish Fork reservoir one day - more on this to come, it deserves its own post.

Thanks to my sister and her kids and my brother Mason for coming to visit, watching my boys, and staying to play with us for the week! We miss you already!

Gettin' dirty

In Uganda, as in most developing countries, women cook indoors or semi-enclosed over an open fire. Obviously, this poses a great health threat to her, as well as the children she is likely caring for at the same time.

One solution that is spreading around the globe is called Adobe Stoves, or Lorena Stoves, or I'm sure there are other names for it. I helped build stoves in Guatemala as well and think it is one of my favorite projects because it is simple, cheap, can involve the recipient, and it has such a huge lasting impact on the entire family. Cooking over an indoor open fire is equivalent to smoking how many cigarettes a day? Anyone? (Click here to find out.)

Part of the stove project this year was actually doing assesments of the stoves built by volunteers last year. So far, we have seen fairly good results. Women are using less fuel, which saves money and time. The stoves are more efficient, which means they can cook more than one thing at once, so the meal is ready sooner. One local told me that one major problem is that meals take 2-3 hours to prepare over a fire, and many times children will fall asleep before they eat, thus contributing to the malnutrition problem that already exists. He also told me that women are more likely to boil their drinking water like they should now that they can have more than one pot going at a time. In our interviews, many mothers said they saw an immediate reduction in their children's health problems, saving them even more money on the costs of medicine - and can you imagine the long term effects! No wonder the life expectancy is so low if everyone is smoking before they can even talk.

So the day I was there, we worked on a couple different stoves that were at different stages. Each time you do a step, you have to let it dry for a few days, so it is a process. But it is so inexpensive. And the real plus is that they locals easily learn how to do it and can then in turn, teach their neighbors. We put a chimney on two of the stoves, which means they will be ready for use the next day. Exciting!

We also worked on a large stove that will be used to feed children at a boarding school. The volunteer women are literally cooking all day long to feed the 100+ children a little bit for each meal. This is where they currently do all the cooking.

It was a challenge to build a stove big enough for those huge pots, and I think this will be a first for us, so hopefully it works. (This is our volunteers showing how much room we need for the pots.)So the foundation had been built previously and the day I was there, we were working on filling and forming it with bricks and clay.

The good part about these stoves is that most of it is made with free or easily accessible materials - homemade bricks, banana stalks, dirt from ant hills (yes, they are huge), clay, etc. For this particular project, we had to collect the clay from a local stream bed, which was just a quick jaunt through this squishy, enchanted forest. A couple of men dug it out, put it in these difficult-to-manage bags and we assembly-lined it back to where we could put it in a wheel barrow to walk it over to where we could mix it. It was good to get my hands dirty, well and my feet, and clothes . . . It was good. I was glad I wore bugspray. And yes, in Uganda, the women wear skirts or dresses everyday, no matter what they are doing. Hence, we do too.

So what's it like over there?

Green and beautiful . . .

A place to call home . . .

Micro-entrepreneurship at it's best . . .

Market Street . . .

Just doing life . . .

Weird, creepy crane things that liked to hang around town . . .

Does that answer your question? And yes, there is lots more to come.

While mom is away, the boys will play

My boys had way too much fun while I was gone - with both Grandparents, Uncle Mason and then with my sister and her kids. They day before I got home they went hiking up in Payson Canyon. Can you believe they went without me?

Eye Camp

The first project I got to participate in was one they called "Eye Camp". One of our amazing volunteers had worked hard for weeks to put this together, and this was the first day of it. How lucky I was to be there! We (as in HELP International) partnered with an organization called Sight Savers to do a series of outreach eye clinic days in various small villages around Lugazi. I think there were a total of 14 over about 8 days. It was free to anyone who came and they received vision testing, glasses and/or medication if necessary, and some were approved for surgery which will be provided at Kawolo hospital by Sight Savers doctors. Most of the surgeries were for cataracts, which is easily treatable. We will be providing the transportation to and from the hospital and food for them while they are there.

Simple, yet totally life changing for these people. I can't believe how many of them had been living with extremely poor vision or couldn't see at all out of one eye or both. Also, many of the people suffered from severe allergies that could be helped by a simple bottle of eye drops. I wondered how long they had just simply dealt with these things. Most of these people cannot afford the 25 cents for the bus to the clinic, let alone the cost of a doctor's visit.

Waiting for their turn . . .

When we arrived there were people who had been waiting since 7am. By the time we got started more and more were gathering. That day, we ended up screening over 130 people. When I left Uganda, our volunteers had helped over 1000 people and had 70+ surgeries scheduled. I was so proud of the time, effort and collaboration that went into this and glad that I could participate for the short time I had.

Don't look down

I think I mentioned before what a long trip it is to actually get to Uganda, East Africa - like two days plus. Well, it just so happened, that since it took me so long to get there, it was the weekend by the time I arrived, which for our volunteers means time to play. First though, let me give you the run down of my arrival - get to the airport; get off the plane by means of stairs coming out the side (yes, just like in the movies) and walk into the airport; immigration/customs consists of 3 people sitting at a folding table checking your passport and the card that states you do not have the swine flu; pay another guy $50 for my visa and I'm in. After I gather my luggage, I realize I never talked to the Country Directors about where we were going to meet, not a big deal, but I can't stand being hounded by taxi drivers. Luckily, in every other country besides the US, the luggage carts are free and readily available for use, so I pushed my luggage around and looked for my ride; realized they were probably just late, so I hung out, all the while assuring the taxi drivers that I did have a ride and no matter how long I had to wait I still would not need their services. Just a few minutes later they arrived and we gathered my bags and started the drive toward Lugazi, where the volunteers live. I was so excited to see them! We talked the entire 2 1/2 hr ride about plans for the week - all the projects, the volunteers, the house, the country, our partners, everything! I think my tiredness was outweighed by my excitement.

So as I was saying before, I arrived on the weekend, just in time for a little fun and a break from the work week (even though I hadn't actually done any work yet). We arrived at the house, dropped my bags, ate some food prepared by the team's cook, Mary, and after throwing a few things in my back pack headed out for a five hour journey to meet up with the volunteers. Our destination was a place called Sipi Falls, north of where we were, close to the Kenyan border.

Getting there was typical for a less developed country - squished, stinky mini-buses and drivers who tell you they will take you so far and then in the end decide they aren't going and tell you to switch buses yet again. At some point along our route we realize we are not going to make it to this remote area this late at night without paying a bundle and risking our lives, so we decide to stay in Mbale at a cheap, but safe motel and join the volunteers in the morning. Luckily on our ride there, several of the other passengers direct us where we can find such a place, and one of them, who happened to be a police officer from our town, offered to escort us there. Turns out the only room they had left had one queen bed. No problem, this is what third world living is all about, right? So the three of us slept sideways on the bed under the protection of a beautiful canopy-like mosquito net for only $7.

I was so happy we decided to wait til morning, the hour drive from Mbale to Sipi Falls was absolutely gorgeous. And not having been in Uganda even 24 hrs yet, I was still just soaking it all in and loving it. The little resort where they were staying was absolutely adorable and in a perfect setting.

This is the view as we sat there eating our yummy Ugandan meal they cooked for us.

Sipi Falls is a set of three waterfalls, each one getting successively bigger. The third one is about a 300 foot drop and then the water heads out into this gorgeous, lush valley. So my first full day, I decide to jump off a cliff (ok, not really jump, just a slow drop). For about $20 I let a couple of African men lower me down the rock face next to the last waterfall. Was I scared? Yes, for a minute. But after the first few terrified steps, I realized that it was totally gorgeous and amazing and thrilling. I would do it again in a second. The last time I was repelling was in high school and I think it was about 75 feet. That was nothing. Not only was it cool to be on the cliff right next to the waterfall, dangling in mid air, but the view of the valley and beyond was absolutely stunning. So amazing that I am running out of words to describe it. Of course, the pictures do not do it justice. It was huge. As you are going down, you only have your feet on the wall for about a third of the way, then the wall recedes and you are just dangling as you go down. Not for the faint of heart, although I would totally recommend it to anyone - it was awesome!

Looking over the edge

zoom in on the little specs at the bottom that are actually people

The view of the valley from the top

Me at the bottom, safe and sound

Bodas, burns and babies

So some of you may realize that I have actually already returned from Africa . . . but since it was nearly impossible to do anything on the super slow and unreliable internet there, my attempts to post were completely fruitless and frustrating. Hence, you will get my experiences piecemeal as I post over the next few days (which is better anyway, because now you will get pictures at the same time).

Oh and by the way, I had an awesomely incredible experience and if it hadn't been for my four boys waiting for me to come home, I think I could have stayed much, much longer. But I am so grateful for this opportunity and thanks to everyone who helped keep things running smoothly on the homefront while I was gone - especially my awesome hubby!

So the following has nothing to do with anything, just randomness from my trip . . .

In Uganda, one of the most popular forms of transportation is called a boda (pronounced boh-duh). It is dirt bike/motorcycle thing where you pay the driver the equivalent of a quarter or fifty cents and you can get pretty much anywhere in town. It is a little scary at times because there are not the traffic laws there are here and drivers will generally use any means necessary to reach their destination - including darting between trucks and buses, passing seconds before oncoming traffic reaches you, and speeding around on the shoulders of the road. Despite this, I rode one at least once a day, long distances and short, dirt roads and paved highways. Sometimes I thought it was kind of exciting and sometimes I had white knuckles. I was totally amazed at the local women who could sit side saddle, holding a baby and groceries and manage to balance and be totally at ease.

Bodas waiting outside the local "supermarket"

Woman catching a ride and transporting water on a boda

One bummer about the bodas - on my second ride I got a nasty burn on my leg from the exhaust pipe, despite having been warned to be careful. Not cool. But that may have been the only downside to my entire trip, so I'll take that over any other myriad of things that could have happened. It is still healing and funky looking, and I'm sure it will leave a pretty little scar, but it will make a great conversation piece, right?

One of my favorite things in Africa: kids carrying their siblings around. Although I am torn about kids taking on that much responsibility, but it is cute to see, because they are always so proud to show you their little baby and they love it when you ooh and aah over their little one. (Yes, one of the babes in the picture is totally asleep on her sister's back.)

This little baby was being held by her 5 or six year old sister, while her mom was learning how to make paper beads in one of our women's groups. The little one kept fussing, so of course, I couldn't resist any longer. I took here for awhile and she totally fell asleep in my arms. When she woke up, it was time for her to do her thing, and since most babies don't wear diapers, I used my jedi-like reflexes and professional mom skills to quiickly avert a poop disaster. Amazingly, I came out clothes and arms clean, although I think the mom was a little embarrassed. She ran out with the babe before I could tell her I have been pooped on many times and it really does not bother me. At any rate, the other volunteers were awed by my skills.

Don't worry, there are many more stories to come and they are not all about poop or nasty burns. And yes, I did work on some actual projects while there, so you will hear about those too.

I'm Totally Sold on Acupuncture!

Okay, so I haven't actually tried acupunture, but it sounded more catchy than acupressure. So some of you may know, that although I love to travel, I really do not like flying because I get SO sick. I have just dealt with it over the years and have tried all different remedies, the best of which include me being completely knocked out. I decided that was not an option this time since I was traveling by myself and had several layovers in foreign countries. So I tried these bracelet things that look like those sweat bands from the 80's that have these little knobby things that push down on a certain point on the inside of your wrist. I didn't put them on til the middle of my first flight when I started feeling queasy and knew that the dramamine wasn't going to cut it. It helped ease it, but the next flight was the greatest miracle ever . . . I went an entire flight without nauseous feelings at all!! For the first time, I thought, "wow, this must be what it is like for normal people who have no idea how you could get sick from a tipping plane". You have no idea what a breakthrough this is for me! And it couldn't have happened at a better time - it was my flight from Houston to Dubai (15hrs) and I was by the window when we were landing and it was SO COOL! I have never been anywhere in the middle east, so obviously the idea that it is really just sand everywhere was enlightening. I could see all of Dubai, surrounded by sand, with little islands off the coast. If you don't know much about Dubai, it is famous for their man-made islands that are in the shape of things (one is like a palm tree where everyone has their own beach, another is a map of the world) Anyway, it was so cool to be able to look out and see everything and not feel the slightest bit of pukeyness as we tipped and turned to land. Now I can travel even more!!

My stopover in Dubai was totally awesome. I got to experience a little slice of the culture and the food and it was all included in the price of my flight! I didn't sleep much like I supposed to but I did get to relax a little.

P.S. Yes, I am in Africa. I made it here safely. The internet is super sketchy though, so I don't know how much I will be able to post (turns out I can't post anything so my sister did this for me.) But I will keep you posted! Just know I am loving it and and will have lots of stories and picture so to share when I get home!

I must be doing something right

Cody brought me a "note" yesterday. I asked him what it said . . .

Cody pretending to read it - "Dear Mother, I love to kiss you. And I like to go to friends."

Then back in his regular voice he said, "So I have to kiss you and then go to friends' house."

Dear Mom

I love you so much. You are the one that mackes my cheks brit pink.

(This was my little love note from Corbin today. I hope I am always the one that "makes his cheeks bright pink"! I have no idea where he got that, by the way. But, oh, I just wanted to squeeze him!)