Asanti Sana (Thank you very much-in Swahili)

This is our last night in Uganda. It's been an amazing journey. Our Safe Birth Project has been even more successful than we'd imagined. We are very proud of our students who will continue to implement the Home Based Life Saving Skills training with 8 new students starting next week. This will be their 2nd training since we first started the program with them only two weeks ago! We were pleasantly surprised at how we were welcomed, accepted and valued by the community of True Vine as well as the surrounding community that also participated in the training.

We are so excited to come home, but know that Uganda will always be in our hearts. Thank you to all who have helped us come to Uganda and impact this community more than you will ever know.

We hope you have enjoyed sharing in this experience.

Lala Salama (Sleep Well - Swahili)

Juba

Today we went with the Hope4Kids team to Juba, a village near Tororo. We were entertained by delightful children at the Vision Nursery School. They're energy was infectious and the drums made us want to dance. There was no shortage of small hands that wanted to be held. They claimed their "person" and stuck like glue. It made leaving challenging as everyone had children firmly attached.

The M&Ms have arrived (thank you Lisa!) oh yeah, Jennifer and the team, too. Now we are not the only "white folks" (or Muzungus as Africans call us) in town. Our temporary status as "Rock Stars" has now diminished.

People are meeting their sponsored sons and daughters (Hope4Kids program). Debi's son, Eddie, is coming from where he's attending University. He's about to graduate with a teaching degree. This was a boy who was unwanted by his mother and would have been a "street kid" without a future. Marianne has a new son named Jordan. The soccer ball she brought to him broke all language barriers as his ear to ear grin spoke volumes. Marianne is in love.

Jennifer met her new daughter, Josephine. Even though Josephine is 8 years old, she is only in kindergarden as she has not had resources to attend school. The sponsorships make a huge difference for these children enabling them to attend school, have uniforms, shoes, mosquito nets, free medical care, mattresses and knowledge that they are special and cared for.

Passing the Torch

Yesterday we went to observe/mentor the students we had trained. They successfully (and very quickly) mobilized 10 traditional birth attendants for their first class. One of our students secured the location for training in a health clinic about 8 miles from here in an area called Osukuru.

We were impressed with the interest and interactive discussions in English, Swahili and Japaola. The newly minted trainers surpassed our expectations and embraced their roles as master trainers. They acted as if they were veteran trainers.

We gave them tools in that assist in conveying important, simple, life-saving information in a culturally adaptive format. They were very successful with incorporating the "adult learning" principles we offered. Women shared their ideas freely and seemed excited to be a part of this new community education program. They already had brainstormed ideas such as forming a group of birth attendants to help get the message out to women in their areas.

There were women in the waiting room of the clinic who had heard (through "bush telegraph") what was going on and wanted to be a part. THIS is the heart of the program, having this information spread throughout their communities. This energy in the community encourages us that our trip was worthwhile and that this project will continue to flourish after we're gone.

Missing photos

Sorry about the loss of pictures from the blog. They were there and then they weren't. We've tried to locate the problem, but the answer is eluding us. There are lots of posts on the help menu of others who have lost their images, too, so we're not alone. We may go back and re-post, but it takes so much air time here to upload photos that we may wait and re-post some of them when we get home.

Smile Africa

Saturday we went to see a partner of Hope4kids here in Uganda called Smile Africa. Smile Africa has nothing to do with dental care and everything to do with caring for the most vulnerable women and children in this culture.

Pastor Ruth started with a piece of land and a desire to care for the children of the Karamajong tribe who had migrated from Northern Uganda where there was a war. These people had nowhere to go. She started taking the kids to her property during the day and feeding them while their parents were in the dump trying to get food. The tribe is a despised tribe in this country, something akin to gypsies in our country, without education or social skills.

This ministry has come a long way. Pastor Ruth showed us children who had been starved and burned by their parents. There are now 40 children living at the property. We arrived in time to watch the babies sitting in front of a plate of rice and special nutrients for malnourished children.

Those babies can really pack away the food!! There are a total of about 300-400 children who are fed there daily.

Lunch always tastes better when you use both hands.

Pastor Ruth also helps women in the community who don't have the skills necessary to work and support their families. There is a craft store with items hand made by the women. This is a microfinance project which supports many of the women. We assisted with supporting these women, the crafts were hard to resist.

Pastor Ruth's mother lives on the property and we visited her in her home. She even adopted us all as daughters (except Lylaine who she adopted as a sister). She took off her scarf to show us her white hair.

Here's a few pictures of children you can see around the campus.

It's not going to happen

We finished the training today, more than a week ahead of schedule. Our students were so interested and motivated and incredibly appreciative. The idea of this training is to teach how to teach. We challenged them to think about who they will train next and how a budget could work. They are planning to train 10 traditional birth attendants from around the area. Traditional birth attendants do not have any formal training, only what they have learned "on the job".

Transportation is a huge issue here, gas costs about $6 per gallon in a country where the average income is less than $1 a day. So for them to be able to get their students in the same place, and for 2 trainers to teach them will involve paying for transportation, food, etc. We are excited that they want to continue the program and plan a Safe Birth Project fund for their future.

We learned in the training that for now, women resting after the birth IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Talking with their husbands about family planning IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. Waiting to resume their sexual relationship for 6 weeks after the birth IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. But our students are hopeful that, slowly, things can change.

Three of our hard working members are planning to go see the silver back gorillas in Western Uganda. Trying to get things arranged has been a challenge, something akin to "if it can go wrong, it will". We had to drive over an hour to go to the bank that was supposed to be able to wire money for the trip. Needless to say, it was not possible. On the way we encountered a circumcision parade. There was a group of drunken men, including the recipients of the circumcision ritual, who were dancing, singing and playing musical instruments on the side of the road. It turns out that circumcision for this particular tribe is not an option and that young men ages 15-20 are circumcised. Aren't we glad that we live in the USA!!!

Buns in the oven

We awoke this morning to another beautiful Ugandan morning after experiencing rains again during the night. I'm now able to sleep through the 3:00am and 4:00am wake up calls from the rooster near by and I no longer lay awake looking for geckos in my room. We have adapted to our routine of boiling water for our baths and adjusting to our diet of rice and beans.

Our teaching today went well and we are learning so much from our participants. Liz did an excellent job of modeling a woman giving birth. After her labor and pushing out a sweet baby, in Ugandan tradition, she hopped right up and went back to her work in the kitchen making some delicious buns.

Lylaine and I spent part of the day with a woman in labor in the clinic . You will be able to see from the photographs how primitive this environment is and lacking in supplies.

The Ugandans have told us that "too many children" is the biggest problem women face here. Our new friend we met laboring today, Caroline, was having her 7th baby. Early in the labor she said "I want family planning now". Unfortunately, her labor became dysfunctional and she had to be referred to the district hospital in Tororo. Referral was a topic discussed in class today. It is a big issue in Uganda as women need to pay for their own transportation to healthcare visits and facilities. Finding funds is challenging for many families as they must go long distances and travel is expensive. Most need to hire cars or motorcycle taxis to get around. We are beginning to feel that the program we are introducing here is so needed and will make a difference saving lives of mothers and babies.

Happy to report our plumbing issues are in the past and now we have 3 working bathrooms (so spoiled). AND we are cautiously optimistic about the possibility of hot water tonight.