We just got back from gulu last night after a looong journey. To be honest, one of the things I've learned to expect from this summer is that nothing can ever go smoothly. Our bus broke down for three hours on the way to gulu so we didn't arrive to the nasty run down hotel until 4am. Following our first encounter at the "multi-choice" hotel where I only really got two choices from, sickness, or sickness. Literally. Brian started throwing up right after we shared our beds (they didn't save all our rooms for us so we doubled up on singles) and around two hours later I hear a knock at the door with a worried brian telling me that he threw up blood.
for those of you who know me well, I don't really do the whole doctor role very well. I told him that everything would be fine and that we would take him into the hospital in a couple hours. Inside I'm freaking out. When I went to throw away his throw up in the squatty potty that reaked of urine, I gagged myself and when there were mice in the room I decided we were upgrading the next night.
We took brian to the hospital and of course they gave him malaria treatment, but he also had a bacterial infection because his white blood cell count was really high so I had him take that antibiotic and hold off of the malaria medicine that they give us EVERY time.
We went to church which was great and then had a little fireside with the ward members after.
Monday and tuesday we went to work to finish 11 stoves that the last group started. We were in the round huts with thatched roofs and for some reason my depth perception was off because I ran into the roof about every time I left or entered the hut.
The reason why we build these adobe stoves or "energy saving" stoves is because people inhale smoke as they cook in their homes which is a huge problem for respiratory health and eye health. They also save a lot of money by using firewood in these stoves and can spend up to 1/2 to 1/4 of what they spent before on charcoal to cook. it also cooks their food more quickly so cuts the time women are cooking by a few hours a day.
When we build them we try to train people around how to do it so that others can do it as well. we put a cement finish on them and a chimney but you can do it without so that it is virtually free.
We did that and then one afternoon went to an IDP camp. One of dennis's best friends amos had been helping us all week and as we walked through a still very populated IDP camp, I ran into Amos on his bike. People seriously just show up places all the time here. He told me he lives with 9 other family members, mostly extended family, but it was really a harsh reality when I realized he was living with them in these tiny mud huts. He doesn't have a sponsor for school so is kind of at a standstill in his life as well.
We also met with invisible children who is doing a lot of really great work from uganda. I'm really impressed with their organization. One thing that makes me really excited is a micro savings and loan group to do with women. I'm going to meet with the mayor again here and propose that we institute more of these groups for the women here and see if he will provide in the business counselors job description to follow up on these small savings groups. The women start by saving anywhere from 1-5,000 shillings a week and each gets a stamp in their book for how much they put into the pot. then there is a loan system set up where they take turns being able to use the money in the pot but have 1 month to pay it back with 10% interest. As the money is constantly loaned out and people pay back as a group, by the end of a 6 month cycle, everyone gets back the money they put into it and a portion of the 10% interest. They make more money by lending. It's really great. there are systems set up for accountability with a president, secretary, and treasurer in the group who have keys to the 3 key lock box. all three have to be present to open the box and ideally money is not left inside. They have done it with some womens groups and by the third or fourth cycle of six months, there are women who are saving up to 20,000 a week as a group. (or about 10 dollars). I love that idea.
we went on safari yesterday and saw giraffes, elephants, warthogs, rhino's, alligators, birds, deer who morphed african style, and some other animals. it was a ton of fun. We did a boat safari to murchison falls on the victorian nile. you should google image it and hopefully in the next few days I'll actually have a camera!!!
Last night as expected, our driver had issues and we ended up traveling for 12 hours when we could have been home in 5.
such is life.
I calculated that I probably only got about 21 hours of sleep in the past 6 days. I don't know how I'm not sick.
lex left two days ago which makes me sad. most of our volunteers leave early next week and then it's down to 8 volunteers for a week and then 6. it's going to be crazy. but I'm excited to do some of my own projects an to have a cleaner house, and maybe sleep?? That being said, I'll miss them all a ton.
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