Thursday, June 19, 2008
 
Around 2:30 pm most of the group met at Salt Lake City International Airport. Pat Jones from Reach the Children met us there (as two of our team leaders had already left—JeVonne and Michelle—and Jenna was coming from Seattle). We got everyone’s checked bags exactly 50 pounds, supplementing with extra AIDS education kits. The poor airport security luggage screeners had a rough time with us because the toothpaste and soap kept setting off their machines! They had to hand-search almost every one of our bags. We made it to the gate in plenty of time and began to get to know each other. There were a few team members who knew each other prior to the expedition but for the most part we were all strangers to each other.
 
We left about twenty minutes late from Salt Lake but got to Denver about five minutes early. We were greeted by Jenna McDonald and her cousin Dallin Dance. We didn’t have long to wait before they began boarding for our flight to London. Our views from the plane were beautiful—on the first flight we flew over gorgeous mountains and rivers. On the second flight we watched an extended sunset as we witnessed more of the sun as we rose higher. We also flew through the clouds and watched a lightning and thunder storm from above.   On board we were served pretzels and a drink at first, then dinner (pasta or beef, salad, roll, chocolate cake) and breakfast (fruit and a Danish). Some of us slept fairly well, some slept on and off during the night, and some barely slept at all. Regardless, our goal was to stay awake in London to try to help our bodies get adjusted to the new time zone.
 
Friday, June 20, 2008
 
We arrived in London around noon. It took us a while to go through security, customs, and wait in line to get our new boarding passes. Seven of us decided to take the tube (subway) into London even though we wouldn’t have very much time. It was a neat experience, though, to meet people and just watch as we rode below and above ground. By the time we made it downtown (about an hour’s ride), we only had about thirty minutes before we needed to get back on to go back to the airport, so we quickly took pictures of Big Ben and the Eye of London. Everyone found some food to eat (sausages, peanuts, ice cream, and/or Subway sandwiches). One of my favorite parts was watching the cute kids in their school uniforms and just listening to people talk!
 
The rest of the group had been eating and relaxing in the airport, and we were happy to be all safely reunited and board the plane together. Our next flight was on Kenya Airways, which also had entertainment options for our close to eight hour flight. They served dinner (fish/curry, rice, coleslaw, crackers and cheese, roll, apple pie) and breakfast (rolls). We landed in Nairobi in the morning and it was cool and beautiful. We walked off the plane down the stairs to the tarmac and were thrilled to be on the continent of Africa, even if we weren’t quite to our final destination!
 
Saturday, June 21, 2008
 
We waited in the Nairobi airport for over two hours (talking to each other, doing yoga, playing hacky sack, trying to sleep, etc.) and started to worry that somehow we’d missed our flight. Turns out the crew was just late showing up (welcome to Africa!)  so we left a bit late. It was a short flight to Entebbe, Uganda (less than an hour). They still fed us a breakfast snack, though (yogurt, granola, pineapple filled croissant).
 
We were so excited when our plane landed in Entebbe. The country is so green and the lake (Lake Victoria) is massive. We walked down to the stairs of the plane onto the tarmac and into the (really nice but small) airport. Going through customs was smooth. As all the luggage came off the plane it became apparent that about 18 of our tubs and suitcases hadn’t made it. JeVonne and Michelle were waiting to great us with some of the RTC Uganda people. We were introduced to our vans and crammed a lot of people and luggage into the vans (an indication of what would be to come…). We were so exhausted we kept falling asleep everywhere we went in the van! We drove about an hour to our hotel. It is up on top of a hill overlooking Kampala. Around 3pm we drove to a hospital to visit (about 90 minutes away from our hotel). Ida was the nurse there and she took us around the visit the pediatric and maternity wards. The kids were adorable. The actual hospital had very little to offer the patients (families were responsible for getting medicine and food for their patient) and was a bit bleak. Even though we wished we could do more for them, it was very enjoyable just to interact with them. We had a bumpy sleepy van ride back to the hotel. Dinner was ready when we returned: rice, potatoes, beans, flat bread (chapati), meat, veggies, and fruit. The other van got back later so we decided to forgo the team meeting until the morning as everyone was very ready to go to bed!
 
Sunday, June 22, 2008
 
Everyone was so happy to have had a good night’s rest! We met in the morning for a team meeting and then headed off to local churches (a Catholic mass or a LDS service).  The members of the congregations were very sweet and welcomed us warmly.
 
We drove to a home for babies and ate lunch (where we realized half of our food was missing—so we each got a lemon-orange, half a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, chips, and a few crackers). The babies were asleep so we went to an orphanage and played with the kids (from very young children to young adults). We sang songs (hokey pokey, lion hunt, down by the river, etc.), played games (with a ball or duck duck goose), and just talked to the kids. At the end we took a picture with all of the kids and gave them each a toothbrush, washcloth, soap, and a comb. When we were leaving they kept asking when we could come back.
 
Then we went to a home for babies who didn’t have parents. The babies all cried and reached up to us as soon as we walked in. It was thirty minutes of pure African baby heaven for all of us! The babies loved being cuddled. Each child was filthy dirty and so were we by the end of our short visit.  Our time quickly ended and all of the babies started wailing when we had to leave. It was really sad!
 
Afterwards we came back to the guest house where we were staying and had a two part team meeting (with a break for dinner) to learn about what we’d we doing for our projects.
 
Monday, June 23, 2008
 
We tried to leave the hotel by 8am this morning to get an early start on the dental clinic and community workshops. We ended up leaving late and by the time we arrived at the dental clinic (about one hour and fifteen minutes away) there was a huge group waiting for us. It took us a little while to get set up but the facility was much nicer than we’d expected—it even had electricity for most of the day. Apparently it was built to be a maternity delivery theater, but wasn’t currently being used. We set up two benches with three pillows each (for six patients total). We had two dentists: Dr. Bill McDonald (Seattle, Washington, USA) and Dr. Dan (Uganda). We weren’t sure how things would go but overall they went fairly smoothly. The kids were mostly brave although we did have a few tearjerkers. One little girl in a purple dress had a really hard time with a tooth that needed to be pulled—they tried and tried but eventually she gave up and wouldn’t do anymore. We were really sad when she left. Funny moment though—there were four people trying to pin the girl down and she kept yelling something in her language. Finally the Ugandan dentist heard her and told us that she was saying that she had to go to the bathroom—we love our translators! Another difficult case involved lots of us and when they finally finished everyone burst into applause and cheering. Hooray!
 
We finished around 6pm and by the time we cleaned up and drove home it was after 8pm. We ate our delicious dinner (mashed potatoes, green beans, rice, mixed pasta, beans, fish and meat) and had team meeting. 
 
The other team members who didn’t come to the dental clinic had gone and taught a community workshop about dental hygiene, handwashing, nutrition, and square meter gardening. They said they had great success and built good relationships with the leaders.
 
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
 
Day 2 of the dental clinic and teaching! For the most part, the volunteers stayed in the same positions as the first day. Some things were more smoothly in the dental clinic while other parts were more difficult. The electricity was not working so we used the generator to run the portable dental unit (which meant no fan for us!). The pull cord came off the generators so the guys had to start it using the car battery. We continued to be amazed by the strength and courage of the patients as they come in. Some of the kids are so tiny, but so brave!
 
Tonight we all went to dinner at the Tuhende lodge—Irene’s husband’s restaurant. It was absolutely delicious. There was a delicious appetizer and then we got to choose steak, goat, tilapia, chicken, or grilled vegetables. The atmosphere was very nice and it was very relaxing. By the end of the evening we were really excited to go to sleep.
 
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
 
A new batch of volunteers went to the dental clinic and saw eighty-four patients (by himself because Dr. Dan didn’t come). Bree passed out at the clinic, but luckily she was okay.
 
The rest of the group visited seven schools. We taught about handwashing, dental hygiene, and feminine hygiene (for the oldest 15 to 17 girls per school). It was really neat to think how valuable these supplies that we are leaving are for them. They were very excited to receive their handwashing station, toothbrushing, and sanitary pads. Visiting these schools makes us even more aware how much we have in the U.S. The schools were quite different—some were very small and several were quite large. These were schools in the city of Kampala, so in general they didn’t have a lot of space to play. Everyone was very excited when we gave each school one soccer ball! The children are so beautiful and excited to see us.
 
Thursday, June 26, 2008
 
Our last day in Kampala working in the schools and dental clinic. The teaching group went to five schools. Some were very more wealthy and others definitely less so. One remarkable thing: Peter (a RTC volunteer) had made a decision on his own to cancel our visit to the last scheduled school (of 700 students). We were all kind of frustrated by that and we ended up going farther away to a school that we just stopped into with no appointment. It seemed to be a school that did not receive much attention. They very graciously received us and let us teach. The school sang us songs and prayed for us. Jenna M had talked to the school headmaster, who said that she’d prayed that morning for a miracle and our unexpected visit was her miracle! Even with miscommunication and African time, we feel so grateful for the little bit of change we can make in small ways---like the thousands of toothbrushes. It’s crazy but exciting. They come in long rows of twelve that need to be cut apart. It was hilarious and slightly dangerous as we tried to cut them in the van while it was moving!
 
Good team meeting—we all feel lucky to be with such a great group.
 
Friday, June 27, 2008
 
A very African day—nothing turned out as expected. We left the guest house this morning and went to the Mukisa Foundation.  It is an incredible place--definitely a group favorite. It is a center for children with special needs. The parents bring their child about three times a week to get education and skills and receive therapy. The work they do is amazing! Last year RTC was able to donate furniture for their classroom. We got to take a tour, play with the kids, and be a part of group therapy (singing and dancing with drumming).  We spent a lot of time and money in "John's workshop" (the little gift shop where they sell crafts they've made). There were beautiful bags, necklaces, paintings, and angels. Our intent in going to Mukisa was to help them repaint. Unfortunately by the time our leaders got back from buying the paint it was too late for us to paint the wall because we needed to get on the road (in hopes of not driving in the dark). We were happy to have the supplies to leave for them, though. A highlight of the day was that Paul Tanner (JeVonne's husband) arrived at the airport to join our expedition. He fit right in with our team and we're all happy they get to be together.
 
We drove for a few hours at a quick place to try to make it across the river at the last river crossing (7pm). We got to a ferry landing at 6:45pm, only to see a sign saying the last crossing was at 6:30! Then we talked to the people and found out we weren't even at the right river! So we all jumped back into the vans and kept desperately driving. As we drove (stopping occasionally to ask for directions) a massive rainstorm started and it got very dark. The two vans were separated from each other. Around 8:15pm the vans found each other (at a very dark intersection where the first van had been waiting with no leaders and no adult men, causing the girls inside to get a bit nervous). They discussed what to do--attempt to continue on towards our hotel or turn around to try to find a safe place to spend the night? Several locals came up to our van and urged us to get off the road, telling us it would be very dangerous and unwise for us to continue. Lucky the town of Masindi was not too far away and our leaders found us a very nice Safari Lodge for us to stay in. We were cozy--four people to a room (with two twin beds). We had dinner at the lodge around 10 pm. The power was on and off but the showers were much appreciated!
 
Saturday, June 28, 2008

We woke up at 5 am so we could be in the vans before six. After breakfast, we loaded up and started driving to Murchison Falls National Park. We had to wait a few minutes at the first gate. Then we had about one and a half hour longer til we got to the ferry. On the road we saw some birds, baboons, and warthogs. We got to the ferry and paid our passage (plus an extra $2 for a "special passage"). We took the ferry across the Nile and drove the short distance to our hotel. Our hotel--the Paraa Safari Lodge--was phenomenal! When we walked in they gave us cool towels and cold passion juice. Very refreshing! The view of the Nile from the hotel is breathtaking. Bill and Diane even saw four elephants out their window. About 10 am we drove to the top of Murchison Falls (which meant going back across the ferry and about an hour drive each way--but worth it!). The views were breathtaking. Tons of water coming through a small opening with such great force! The rocks were very interesting too (especially to Michelle)--very sparkly. As we got off the ferry on the way home, a hippo was walking alongside the road. Some of the boys got a bit too close and had an adrenaline-pumped jog back to the lodge.
 
We got back to the hotel in time for a delicious three course lunch (soup/salad, fish/chicken/pasta/curry, chocolate/fruit). As soon was lunch was over we jumped back in the vans for our game drive. Each van had a guide (with a gun) who was very helpful in helping us find and identify animals. We saw: warthogs, oribe, Johnson's heartbeast, Uganda kob, cape buffalo, giraffes, elephant, guinea fowl, and a lioness. It was an amazing experience. Samson's van chased the lioness and saw her cross the road. Fred's van got stuck in the sand and the team pushed it out! On the way back we saw a giraffe cross the road very slowly.
 
Dinner was waiting at the lodge when we returned--an incredibly delicious buffet dinner, complete with a huge dessert selection.
 
Sunday, June 29, 2008

We arose before the sun to a delicious buffet breakfast before our Nile River cruise. We took two boats from the docks at Paraa up to the bottom of Murchison Falls. We saw tons of hippos in groups of 3 to 10 and several crocodiles (including a baby croc). On the banks there were many water buck, warthogs, and buffalo. The falls were gorgeous from the bottom and we took lots of pictures.
 
We were back in the vans by 10 am to cross the ferry one last time. We drove back to Masindi for lunch (which included some sloppy-joe-like pizza) and then kept driving to Jinja. On the way Fred's van hit some kind of deer-like animal and he continued onward without flinching. Samson's van got to stop at this grandma's house and meet his cute boys (ages 4 and 2). It was humbling to us how grateful they were to us for providing employment to Samson. They also specifically thanked Bill for helping with Samson's teeth. We continued onward and got slightly lost (as usual) but arrived in the hotel in Jinja in time for dinner (9:30pm).
 
Monday, June 30, 2008

Our first day to work in Jinja. Part of the group ran the dental clinic and the rest of us taught a community workshop. We probably had over fifty people at the workshop--although no one was there when we came because apparently they didn't believe we'd actually come! Before lunch we taught handwashing, dental hygiene, and toilet sanitation. After lunch was nutrition and square meter gardening. The way it worked was that one of the volunteers would teach the whole group and then we'd break up into small groups and have them try to teach each other the subject we'd just talked about. It was really fun to watch them teach each other in combinations of their home language and English. They were excited to use our visual aids to teach each other. It is humbling and amazing to us that adults need this education, but they do! It was different from teaching children because children don't seem to realize the complex problems as much as adults do. The adults were more concerned about availability and access--that everything was too expensive for them. We are grateful that RTC encourages them to help themselves instead of the encourages the attitude of helplessness and dependence. The saddest part of the day was when we talked about how HIV positive women can transfer HIV through breast milk. They didn't seem to have any feasible alternatives. We often have reminders of how much work there really is to be done to help the people of Uganda, but at the end of each day we're glad to have made some kind of difference.
 
We noticed a difference in the children here in Jinja--they seem much more likely to beg for things all the time. They are persistent with sad eyes and repeated persuasive lines. As much as their stories make us sad, their begging makes me even more sad. We try to remember to not support begging and teach them that there are better ways. It's an ugly feeling that they all expect us to have something to give them.
 
There were better parts of the day--like seeing grown adults singing Primary songs and doing aerobics. We spent quite a bit of time playing with the kids--just singing, talking, and playing simple games. Such beautiful children. :-)
 
 Exciting highs: much less time in the van today!! Also, 82 dental patients today! This week is rice and chapati for lunch (as opposed to the PB&J from last week).
 
Tuesday, July 1, 2008

July! Today we continued the dental clinic in Jinja. There were lots of patients today--we had several schools bring all of their students and we also had many adults seeking care. There were a few screamers in the beginning of the day but then it seemed to calm down.
 
The other part of the group painted several rooms and a small mural in an orphanage. From the looks of their shirts, they must have had a good time! After their painting they went to an area where there are lots of refugees from Northern Uganda are living. They taught the families in their homes about health and hygiene and left a hygiene kits and toothbrushes. They said it went well until word go tout to everyone that there were mzungus giving out free stuff--then they were mobbed!  Women were grabbing the bags and running away, people were yelling in their faces for money, children were hanging all over them--quite a scene. A very unique African experience. Its just sad that all of the children aren't in school and they feel the need to beg.
 
At team meeting we reiterated how grateful we are for this wonderful team and how willing everyone is to work hard with a great attitude!
 
Wednesday, July 2, 2008

School visits and dental clinic continued. When we arrived to the dental clinic there was an entire school waiting! We did make Bill and Harv come to one school to teach so they could see that experience, but then they quickly got to work. That first school was very inspiring--totally created by a women with a lot of determination, love, and high standards. We were very impressed by her work and the quality of the school she was running. We visited a very large school towards the day including lots of temporary classrooms (wooden shacks). The teachers and students were both very welcoming and grateful.
 
After school visits, the teaching group went to do classes in the communities. The first group was by Harriet's house. Next we went to a refugee area. Half of the group occupied the children with bubbles, songs, and pictures while the other half taught the women. They live incredibly simply and were very grateful for the hygiene kits.
 
It was really fun watching from the windows of the van as we saw many children coming home from school, eagerly carrying their toothbrushes! We even had a few kids who made brushing motions with their hands when they recognized us (as those they'd seen earlier at school).
 
As we returned to the hotel for the evening we had a power outage during dinnertime, just before the dental group returned. The night ended with a fabulous team meeting and devotional.
 
Thursday, July 3, 2008

Our last work day. The teaching group and dental group each worked half days and swapped so everyone could get experiences doing both. The teaching group started out with the SAS school where we had the school choir give us a performance after we taught. It was beautiful and very moving. They gave us a tape of them singing afterwards. We were all very touched. The headmaster made a speech about RTC fufilling their mission in his school by "reaching the children."
 
We also visited the very large army school. They had a huge student body (each set of two volunteers taught four or five classes).  As the students all began their lunch break a huge African rainstorm began. We huddled in the van and watched the huge raindrops. Luckily we didn't get stuck in the mud and made it back to the dental clinic for lunch. We tried to hide in the backroom so people wouldn't watch us eat, but we still had some onlooking children at every window. The same is very true at the dental clinic--the children hang on the bars of the windows to watch us work and talk to us during the day.
 
We finished out the dental clinic with dental work for our friends from the week--Peter, Margaret, Samson, and Irene. By the time we finished and packed up it was dark. We said thanks and goodbye to Margaret, Jackie, and Peter. There were a lot of kids who stayed around to say goodbye and take pictures with us. They waved until the van had disappeared.
 
Our last team meeting was a special one, honoring our drivers and then talking about what a great expedition we'd had.  We had to say goodbye to the McDonalds/Tanners/Dance because they were leaving very early for the airport.
 
Friday, July 4, 2008

We had a bit more of a relaxed morning before loading up the vans for the trip back to Kampala. We ran a few errands and ate lunch (chapati and rice or sandwich and chips) before the market. At the market there were about 40 different stalls with souvenirs. Lots of people bought jewelry, carvings, masks, drums, etc. Finally, our time was finished and we loaded up the vans again. Harv and Hailey were dropped off at a hotel and everyone else went to Entebbe to begin the long journey home (with stopovers for many team members), changed by the love and experiences of our expedition. And with plenty of stories to tell!