You may be wondering...

So, for those of you who may be wondering, we really have done some work while we are here. The project training officially begins on Monday morning, and we have 8 Master Trainers that are participating to start the Home Based Life Saving Skills project here in Uganda. We have found that we are starting off a little less prepared than we thought, but the community people are very receptive to our being here and we are giving it our 100%. After preparing training booklets for each of the trainer participants, we had to sort the 200+ teaching cards for each of them. Wow, what job!

Our preliminary orientation with the participants went fairly well, and they all were in agreement that mother and infant mortality was something that needs to be addressed. Healthcare access is very difficult as they cannot receive any treatment without payment. Therefore, many die. It appears that this program could make a significant impact on the lives saved, not to mention the community hospital run by True Vine Ministries. We look forward to seeing the progression of the project and helping the participants embrace the vision of Home Based Life Saving Skills.

I do have to say, however, getting any work done around here is very difficult because of these beautiful "distractions"!!

The children's boarding school is right over the wall of our guest house, and there is an estimated 180 children who are currently boarding, several sponsored by Hope4Kids. They LOVE to watch us and greet us. The little girls will bow on one knee while the boys bow their heads to greet. It's so sweet. It's definitely a new experience to have babies cry and toddlers run away behind their mothers' skirts because they are afraid of the "Mozungoo" (white person).

More to come later!

Edna

Middle of the Night Mopping Party

So...after spending HOURS preparing materials and planning for our training day, we fell into bed around 1:00 AM. Just as sleep was about to enfold us, Liz woke us up with a panic alert that her bathroom was flooding. By the time we managed to get up and go look, there was Lake Victoria in her bedroom, flooding under the bed. The faucet in the bathroom had broken a connection and was spouting water everywhere.

We all got up, tried to assess the situation, grabbed towel, mops, buckets, brooms, anything that looked like it might help scoop up water. Edna actually managed to stem the flow a bit while Debi and I got a flashlight and trekked across the campus to see whose light might be on. (Cell phone attempts were not reaching anyone.) We searched all around the house for shut off valves to no avail. We found other things like frogs, but no valve. Finally, we managed to awaken a poor couple who had (unfortunately) kept a light on inside their house. He took us to find the security guard who came and knew where the valve was.

It was buried under mud, so we NEVER would have found it. Finally, after doing all we could to sop up water, we fell back into bed (laughing hysterically). Seemed like a slumber party gone South...

RIP Lady Di

We are fortunate to have a wonderful woman preparing meals for us and introducing us to African cuisine. Today Debi, Lylaine and I went to the market, shopping list in hand with Sylvester our driver. After finding everything in the market, the last thing on our list was chicken. There definitely is NO frozen food dept. in an African market. So past the fruits and vegetables we went to the live chickens.

Sylvester picked up a plump red one and negotiated a price. Off we went Sylvester carrying our chicken, the three of us a little traumatized and vowing to be vegetarian. She was a sweet little chicken whom we bonded with (after releasing the bonds tying her feet together). We even gave her a name, Lady Di(short for Dinner), and allowing her to escape the afternoon monsoon in the house.

3:00PM

Sadly, after a last meal of watermelon (thanks to Liz) she has succumbed to her destiny. See picture below. She is our main course tomorrow, unless we keep our vegetarian vow. Somehow it seems we are much closer to our food sources here...

6:00 PM

Rest In Peace, Lady Di. (sniff)

HELP!

For anyone coming to Uganda soon (e.g. Jennifer Farrell), please bring M & M's.

Finally from Africa

After months of planning, exhausting hours of traveling and securing of technology here we are. We are finally able to update our blog and let you know we have arrived and started our project. We've met with the training participants, set out a plan and will begin our training on Monday. So much has happened in 5 days. We have had a wonderful time orienting to the culture, geography and weather.

When we woke up in Entebbe with monkeys swinging from the trees, we knew we weren't in Phoenix anymore. And as we drove on the highway on our way to Tororo and saw baboons, we knew we weren't on the I-17. Goats, cows and chickens roam everywhere. The people are beautiful...inside and out. They must be some of the friendliest people on the planet. They have graciously cared for us in the nicest lodging around. We have electricity, running water and indoor plumbing. The showers are cold, but we have 3 of them. Well, 2 working ones, anyway.

We have 2 women "in charge" of our food needs. We're learning lots about how Africans cook their food. Let's just say, none of us wants to have our cholesterol checked anytime soon after we return. We should have had a clue when we went shopping and they wanted the gallon size of cooking oil. The market is fascinating. There are lots of fresh fruits and vegetables...some we recognize, others we're learning about. The pineapple is outstanding, better than Hawaii! It's actually quite a culinary adventure.

Our fear of mosquitoes and malaria materialized when we thought we saw a bat, but it was actually a mosquito. Seriously, the bats eat the mosquitoes and we all have buckets of repellant. Plus it's the rainy season (it actually hailed yesterday) and they're numbers are down with cooler nighttime temperatures.

Hopefully, now that we have our technology sorted, will be posting often. Stay tuned...

We are ready to go !

The fundraisers, meetings, preparations are now behind us. Just four days to organize and pack . Monday 10/18 we leave for Uganda. Last year I traveled with Debi with Hope 4Kids to Tororo. It was so exciting to travel to this part of the world for the first time ! I knew I would return. I left a part of my heart there with the wonderful people who are making a difference in this small town and out lying villages. The poverty , the lack of clean water and access to health care is overwhelming. The singing children, smiles and beautiful countryside invites me back. This time my stay will be longer and I am so excited to bring our Safe Birth Project to Uganda.
Thank you to everyone who has supported us. I take with me your generosity and positive thoughts.
Please visit our blog for updates and pictures.

We have a Raffle WINNER!

CONGRATULATIONS!

Diane Liefer

You are the WINNER!

Now you can enjoy a luxurious night at the world famous Biltmore Resort and scrumptious dinner at Wright's Restaurant. Thanks to everyone who purchased a ticket. We will gratefully carry your generous support with us as we board the plane on October 18!