Update #2 from Gulu

Hi Everyone-

Sorry I did not get an email out to you yesterday. I separated from the group to go send one out, was almost ready to push send, and the electricity went out. And just now, a wrote another entire email, and the page automatically refreshed and everything was deleted. Grrrrrrrrr...Ok... third try here we go...:)

So Thursday night we stayed at Acholi Inn in Gulu. We ate dinner at the hotel, and after dinner one of our hosts from the Kids League, Michael, shared with the girls his experiences as a young boy in Gulu during the war. The girls were quite captivated. We then had a team meeting to go over the assembly one final time before morning.

Yesterday morning, most of the girls went into the market to get some cute dresses made for dirt cheap, while a few others came to Laroo with me to prepare for the assembly and make sure the dormitory was all set. The Laroo girls were SO excited for our girls to come. They had just finished mopping our dormitory and welcomed us with huge smiles.

When the girls arrived, they organized their belongings and made their beds, and then we gathered in the assembly hall for the assembly. The administration welcomed us and some of the students danced for us. We then gave our assembly. The movie we made was a hit, and each of our 16 girls had speaking parts. We talked about the importance of not only having goals, but having SMART goals. We also discussed self-worth, the interference of obstacles in our lives (esp. the war for them), and the importance of "team" and how you need to let teachers, classmates, and others help you. We were careful not to say families because most of these kids do not have them. We were SOO proud of the girls during the assembly. They did such a great job.

After the assembly, we had lunch and rested for a short bit before the soccer clinic. At about 3pm, girls teams from three other high schools arrived without shoes and in their dresses. We handed each team a new set of uniforms (donated by US Soccer Foundations "Passback" program). They went to change, and all came out in lines in their new uniforms and jogged onto the fields. They looked so good in their new uniforms. We then divided the Ugandan girls into 7 groups and they rotated in stations for the clinic. We then ended with our message that "every girl should have a goal" whether it is the kind on a soccer field or in life. It was hot, but our girls seemed to really enjoy teaching them.

We then took the girls into town for a cold drink and to just sit and decompress. After, we returned to the school and ate dinner (traditional Ugandan food), and then divided into our 5 groups to have closer interaction with the Laroo girls. Our girls went over the Laroo girls SMART goals, played get to know you games, sang, danced, and talked about "life". Many of the Laroo girls opened up and told their stories to our girls. The stories we have heard are heart-wrenching. It is so hard to swallow what all of these kids have been through...yet they are so resilient and faithful. We then all returned back to our dorm and had a pretty emotional meeting about what we had all experienced and the stories we heard. Most of these kids are orphans of the war and their parents were killed. I am sure your daughters will tell you a lot more about these experiences... very hard to swallow. I think "where much is given, much is required" has a whole new meaning to all of us. For a long time we discussed how incredibly lucky we all are.

We then went to bed, and now the girls are holding a soccer tournament all day. They are mixing all of the teams so we are playing alongside the Ugandan girls.

We decided to not stay at Laroo tonight and tomorrow night. We were such a novelty that many girls wanted to be in our dormitory spending time with us day and night. We moved to a hotel in town, and will just bus into the school tomorrow. We feel a lot more comfortable this way.

A few girls have had the runs, a few a bit homesick, a few a little nauseous, but all having a great time and happy.

They wanted me to send off some "shout-outs":

Jordan: Happy Birthday Gage!!

Aya: Goodluck Mika on Provo Pageant!!

Sarah and Emily: Thank you for birthing me!

Sarah: Camera not working

Alex: Calls out to her people

Chanel: Goodnight, encowfanjou, I love you sweet and teams

Emily: Prepare my backrub

Kathy: I have seen gazells in two countries

Anne: Schedule me a spa day; and grace, write me on the schedule at RCC

Hannah and Jackie: Dudes...

Until next time!!

Jackie

Update from Gulu

Hi Everyone!

I seperated from the group just a bit to get an email out and let you know all is well on our side!

Tuesday we drove to Murchison falls.... it was a pretty long, bumpy, and exhausting ride. We left at 6am and arrived at Murchison falls at around 2pm. We took a three and half hour boat ride on the Nile towards the falls, and saw hippos, crocs, incredible birds and elephants along the way. We reached Murchison falls, got off the boat and took a bunch of pictures, then turned around and came back. It was a nice break for the girls. We then checked into our hotel, Paraa Lodge, and relaxed and ate dinner.

Today the girls woke up and went on a two and half hour safari and saw warthogs, giraffes, water buffalo, more elephants, and tons of monkeys (and more). We then had a late breakfast, and headed off to Gulu. Driving to Gulu was pretty eye opening for the girls. We passed a few IDP (internally displaced persons) camps (refugee camps basically) along the way, while our busdriver Loban narrated for us. He told us which camps were most affected by the LRA and what happened. The girls had tons of questions. On the bus ride, we also nailed down a more detailed outline of what we are going to talk about at the "goal-setting" assembly tomorrow at Laroo.

When we arrived in Gulu, we checked into the hotel, while I went to Laroo to make sure everything was taken care of there. Laroo is an incredible school. About 50% of the school are orphans, and all affected by the war. Not all of the kids there are formerly abducted....some of them are children of the abducted. It is a primary school, but holds ages 6-18 because some of the kids had been out of school for a really long time. The school has signs all over it like "Jesus loves you more than you will ever know", and "always keep hope", etc. The school is very nice. When I arrived, I met many of the girls that are SOOO excited to meet our girls. They were putting curtains in our dormitory when I got there. I checked out the meeting hall to make sure the projector will do ok there and to become familiar with the set-up. The set up is all perfect. They have a separate block for us to use the pit latrines, and wash-up.

The girls right now are checking out the market with some of the employees of the Kids League, and I am running last minute errands. They are then spending the night at Acholi Inn... and then we are going to Laroo tomorrow morning. We will arrive at 9:30, and the assembly is at 11. The girls have been working hard on it... so pray that all goes well and they will be able to understand our message. We will have a interpreter with us.

This town is loaded with non profit organizations all trying to help here. It is a very educational experience for these girls.

We are spending Friday, Saturday, and SUnday night at Laroo. I will try my hardest to break away and email you all an update so you know all is well.

Thanks!

Jackie

Day #5

Hi All-

Today was awesome. We left the hotel this morning at 7am, and I had the girls visit two of my favorite places in Uganda. They have experienced urban poverty, but haven't seen village life. They have visited well-funded orphan homes, but haven't been able to see what an orphan home is like that isn't sponsored that is in the middle of nowhere.

So.... I took them to an orphan home that belongs to my friends Rose and Paul. It was about a 45 minute drive on a horrible road where people rarely see white people. The kids were all dancing while waiting for us. My group had built a bunch of gardens at this school last year so it was so neat to see the progress and to show the girls. This home had 26 kids, and no sponsors. They can't afford the transportation or the costs of receiving medical care. Some of the kids are HIV positive, and it is a real struggle for them to put the children in schools. They were SOOOO excited to see us. We went into their gardens and helped pick beans, fetched water with the children at the well, and played with the children. As a team, we decided we wanted to donate $585 of our project funds to this orphan home. They were SOOOO sooo grateful. I loved watching our girls be able to give so much with the hard earned money they raised through all the tedious fundraising we did. Such a great feeling. Money goes a long way in Uganda. It will impact this home for the entire next year.

We then headed to the town I lived in last summer, Lugazi. We went to an orphan home called Hope orphan home. This home has about 49 kids, including two albino girls that were abandoned in Northern Uganda. We helped them with various chores, and they fed us chapati (like a cafe rio style tortilla) and beans, which we ate with our hands. We also presented this orphan home with about $425.

I don't think I have included this, but we have also spent our project funds sponsoring a little boy we met the first day for a years worth of school, helping a little baby get medical treatment including a feeding tube at the babies home, and after today, donating a significant amount to two orphan homes. What a great use of our money. We have about $4,000 left, and it is fun to discuss what we want to do next.

We then headed to Lugazi town for a soccer match.... we were all BEAT, and weren't really ready for what was waiting for us: a team all uniformed up with a stadium full of people. We arrived late, but quickly got ready to play, and this team put up a pretty good fight. We had more people at this game than any of our high school games. TONS of people. It was really fun.

We then drove back to Kampala, packed up for our trip tomorrow for Northern Uganda. We leave at 6am, and will be going to Murchison Falls for a boat ride safari and then the next day a land-cruiser safari. Then we travel to Gulu, and have our three night sleepover at Laroo boarding school for formerly abducted children.

On a sadder note, the girls did all hear about the passing away of their classmate. Their hearts go out to her family, and they wish they could be of some comfort at this challenging time. They are taking it ok, but it is pretty hard to swallow, especially when you are across the world.

Thank you for letting your girls come here. I love watching them interact with the people, and seeing them respond to what they are experiencing. I can't wait for you all to hear their stories.

Hope all is well.

Jackie

Day #4

Hi Everyone!

It feels like we have been here for over a week by now. It is late and I am exhausted, but wanted to update you all real quick. Here is the lowdown on today:

Woke up and had a really good breakfast, then jumped on the bus to a Primary school in Jinja. This school was pretty well funded, but still most of the 1,000 students had no shoes, and ripped uniforms. When we first got there, we assigned the girls in pairs to visit one of the seven grade levels and to watch a regular school lesson. They learned a lot. Then all 1,000 students came to the field and played with us...and it was complete chaos turned really fun. Each pair (some girls had to fend for themselves alone) manhandled around 50 little kids each, and we led them in all sorts of silly American games and song. The younger girls got placed with the younger kids (which was by far the hardest group because they didn't speak English. I was so proud of them... they weren't quite sure what to do, but figured it out and did great. After, we played soccer with a group of about 22 P7 Girls (prob 13-15), while the rest of the student body watched (TONS OF KIDS) and gave our presentation of what we are all about, and the importance of goal setting in life, and we handed over the "every girl should have a goal" bracelets. The girls are now doing the presenting rather than me or Suzy, which is SO fun to watch. We then sung to the whole student body "I love you like a mango"...a song Dani (member of the film crew) taught us on her ukelele. So fun.

Then we headed over to a secondary school called BMM Secondary. It is an all girls high school. They organized a group of girls to play us on their field, and we had a lot of fun playing...then presented them with a full set of uniforms (donated by US Passback program) and our goodbye "message" we are leaving at every school we go to. THEN.... we just let girls be girls. A HUGE group of the Ugandan girls gathered around some of our girls and they began to sing and dance, and had a circle where girls would go in the middle and "break it down". It was SO fun to watch. There were just tons of them. No matter where you go in the world, high school girls are the same. They were immediate friends.

We then went into Jinja town for lunch and a little craft shopping. We tried to teach the girls some bartering skills... they have some working to do on that. :)

After Jinja town, we headed over to Wanyange (all girls) Secondary School, which was on a big hill overlooking Lake Victoria. It was gorgeous. The field was ....well... a cow pasture with cow patties, termite hills, and a huge mound of dirt in the middle. But, that did not stop us from having a really intense game. This field was fenced off, and the rest of the student body gathered around the fences to watch us. They were SOOOO loud. Everytime anyone did a sweet move, or a good save, or fell on their faces, or made a goal...they went wild. It was SO fun. This was a higher end school, but still half the girls don't have shoes to play in. One girl cut her toe up really badly, but Mrs. Boshard came to her rescue and helped clean her up. After, we gave our "message" presentation again, handed over a set of uniforms donated by New Mexico Highlands University, and then invited ALL the girls in the student body to join us on the field. We wanted to sing/dance with them again... so the girls did:)

We then stopped by the "source of the Nile" on the way home and took a quick boat ride to where Lake Victoria ends and the White Nile begins. It was really quite beautiful. Then we came home and ate, had our nightly meeting, and everyone is now passed out.

I don't think we have a girl with us that isn't having an incredible time. We love watching them interact with the kids here. They are loving it.. things are going great. We are taking the girls to 2 orphan homes tomorrow that I worked at last summer...and giving them a taste of "my life" in Africa. I can't wait.

Have a great day!

Day #3

Hello Parents and Friends!
Here is the update on day #3 in Uganda. I don't think we will have internet access starting Wednesday for around 5 days for when we go up North....so just be aware of that:) You can still try to call though. I know Suzy's husband, Mr. Sudweeks, and Mr. Bramble got through... not sure about anyone else, so keep trying.

Things are going great on this side. We had a very low-key day, but still had some really neat experiences. We woke up and had to move all of our stuff (which is a LOT of stuff) to a storage unit, ate breakfast, and then took the bus to Kampala. We had a few neat experiences here. The girls had a lot of realizations and new outlooks on things after spending the day in Kampala. Then we loaded the bus and traveled to Jinja. Trevor Dudley (the director of the Kids League) joined us for the bus ride and sat right in the middle of the girls. He has such a desire to get to know the girls better, and wanted to just sit and chat with them on the hour and half long bus ride. The girls loved talking with him and hearing his stories. Then Dani (from the film crew) broke out her ukelele and she taught us some songs. During the drive, the girls got to witness the poverty that exists outside the urban setting.

We arrived at our hotel right on the Nile and the girls spent the day relaxing, and taking a deep breath before a busy week. It is BEAUTIFUL here...the hotel overlooks the river, and the sunset this evening was incredible. It is also a full moon. We had an incredible dinner, and then had our nightly meeting going over different things, and everyone shared their "highlight of the day" (a little tradition we made). I wish you all could be here for these discussions. You have amazing girls. One of the girls said in her thought that "it is hard to understand it all".... why we have been blessed with so much and why they have nothing. We then had a little discussion on that "why", which is something they will probably continue to ask themselves for a long time.

The girls are all healthy and doing great.

That is all for now. Until next time....