I'm living in Africa!!!! I'm here safe and loving every second of it...well maybe not every second, the only thing I don't love is the squatters, but we won't talk about that. Uganda is the most beautiful place I have ever been in my entire life. I love it here. The people are beautiful and wonderful. The most welcoming and loving people, probably on earth. Every time we walk down the street the children will come out of huts, bushes, ditches, everywhere to shout, "MAZUNGU!!! MAZUNGU!!! HOW ARE YOU?" Mazungu means white people. Many of the children will run down to us to shake our hands, give us a high five (now that we taught them what that is), or just to touch us. They are so adorable. So far I have gone to see the source of the Nile, BEAUTIFUL, boated through it as well as Lake Victoria, danced at the local dance club called African Paradise and began our projects. I just became the project lead over the Women's Group projects where we will be doing projects to empower the women in these groups teaching them new skills to enable them to increase the income of the family so they can bring in more food, send their children to school, and improve their quality of life. There is an amazing village in Kawoto of women from Northern Uganda which I have fallen in love with. The women only speak Swahili or Aboli so I have to take a translator with me in order to communicate but I cannot wait to begin really working with them. There are so many projects to do with them. I just got out of a meeting with the Mayor who asked me to conduct a census of the women in Lugazi because Lugazi does not already have a census. So I will be creating the first census in Lugazi. It's a big project but I'm excited to be heading it up and it will be a great help for the village. We have spent many mornings at the Faith Orphanage where we play with about 25 children. It is a small orphanage for Uganda. There is a young girl named Sandi who has grown attached to me and calls me Mammy Becca. She wrote me a very sweet note which I will cherish forever. It amazes me how much I can love these people already and it's only been a week. Let me tell you about some of the people who affect our lives daily. David is our night guard and is such and a sweet and amazing man. He is from Eastern Uganda where his family still lives. His wife and daughter are actually coming to visit this week but he only gets to see them about once a month. It breaks my heart that so many families are split up due to poverty and other reasons. He is trying to be baptized into the church but cannot afford the taxi into Jinja to attend church and so myself and some of our friends in the group are going to pay for him to get to church. Mary is our cook and is from Sudan. She is probably the sweetest lady I have ever met and does way more than she needs to. She escaped the genocide in Sudan but her children and husband are still trapped there. She is waiting until the wars are over so she can get them out. We are hoping to be able to teach her to read and write in English. I am looking forward to her teaching me to cook Ugandan food (especially my favorite chipati and sweet potato with peanut sauce mmmmm so good!!!) She is also helping the Mazungus learn how to wash our cloths by hand. Ivan is our best friend who is 18 years old and is always with us helping with projects, leading us around the town and just hanging out with us. He just made me an awesome bracelet and is a great friend to all of us. I don't have much time on the internet left so I need to stop writing but I am doing well. I love Ugandan food, I love the weather in Uganda. IT rains about everyday and the lightning storms at night are amazing. The people here are the most loving I have ever met. I hope to learn to become more like them every day. I hope everyone in America is doing well. I love it here so much and am so happy I am here. Did I mention I LOVE UGANDA!!!!
Welabe!!!
