Uganda Update

I have been really bad at updating my blog, mostly because I never can get a good internet connection long enough to write, but today I am going to try and update well enough that I can paint a good picture of some of my great experiences here. First of, one of the most dramatic parts of my experiences here has been a little health scare we had. I can write about it now because it is pretty much over and so I know it's going to be OK. I had been sick for about ten days and so finally my country director Melissa made me go see Dr. Nyombi. He is the man who we rent our house from. Right before I went two others from the group went and tested positive for malaria. They made a total of three cases of malaria in the group, thus our decision to finally go to the doctor. We went and he said we needed to do a blood test but that my vitals were all very good, not the numbers of someone sick, so at least I had a strong heart. We got the test results back and were shocked to find out that I had not only malaria but typhoid as well. He promptly gave me the medicine we needed and we went home. I went back and forth between wanting to cry and wanting to laugh because this is classic me, I can't just get malaria, I had to get typhoid too. But I have finished the malaria pills and the malaria is all gone. The typhoid has been a cause for debate in our house because after I was tested we decided that everyone in the house should be tested for either disease and after testing almost everyone we had 13 or so cases of typhoid. Then we learned that if you get tested for typhoid within 6 months of typhoid immunizations your test will come out positive. So most people stopped their typhoid pills but I talked to my doctor in America and he said I had all the symptoms of typhoid but it would be very hard to test for and so I should continue taking the medicine because if it isn't typhoid it is something else that this medicine would cure and I can't risk going off the medicine. I am doing much better now, I am able to go out on projects and actually able to get up and walk to the gate surrounding our house without getting exhausted. I actually feel really good other than pains in my stomach which still could be a problem but we are looking into it.
Other than health problems life has been awesome here. I couldn't ask to be in a better place this summer. I am working on a huge project which will be the largest festival that Lugazi has ever had and it will be an Aids awareness festival as well as combining small and large scale agricultural projects that we have been working on all summer that we have been teaching the people and also having the womens groups I have been working with and they will be able to sell their crafts there at the festival. It will be amazing and so far the Minister of Health is coming, the Prime Minister and hopefully the Ambassador. This is a huge event and I can't wait to head it up.
So much is going on but I don't have a lot of time to write more about it. I will try and post again soon. To sum it up, I love Uganda and the people here. This is the best summer of my life and I am the happiest I have ever been. I miss my family very much but I couldn't ask to be doing a better work or to be serving a better people.

How Many Miles to Namagogo?

It's been hard to get on here to update my blog but I finally have made it and now I don't know what to write about, not because I have nothing to say, I have TOO MUCH to say! We'll start with the most recent. Yesterday was Martyrs Day here in Uganda. Millions of people travel for months from Kenya and Rwanda and other neighboring countries to come to a church where 130 years ago some Christian missionaries were slaughtered. This mass pilgrimage occurs every year and we decided that we should participate. So, we started off in the morning from Mukono and walked all the way to Kampala City to the village of Namagogo about 10 miles. I'm not going to lie, to was not enjoyable. But it was a good experience and it was great to open our eyes to the dedication of the people to travel for months to honor these martyrs. Originally we were told that the walk would be 45 minutes from Mukono. After 45 minutes we started wondering why we hadn't seen it yet...so we then asked again. They told us "Oh about 2 more Kilometers" Ok we can do that. 2 hours later we are still searching for Namagogo. We ask again. "1 more Kilometer" Hmm...I'm starting to think they don't know where it is. Here comes the down pour. Ugandans are terrified of the rain so we have to stop and get under shelter. At this point we have at least reached the mass of people and we have been traveling for 3 1/2 hours. Once the rain stops we continued traveling and after 4 hours (NOT 45) we reached Namagogo. So the real question is, how many miles is it really to Namagogo? I have no idea...