Saying goodbye...

A beautiful quote that was sent to me during my time here:

"You are that mystery which you are seeking to know. You are the love you first sought, whether conscious of it or not. Your personal journey, either in this lifetime or another in the future, will bring you to this center within yourself. Traveling alone upon a solo-quest is the perfect catalyst for this grand voyage given to the human being as a birthright. So go find yourself in solitude where the inner landscapes of personality become most audible within a world of possibility.”

Well folks, this is it…I’ve slept my last night in Lyantonde and I’m saying my goodbyes today before heading to Jinja and the Nile River for my last 3 ½ days in Uganda. One colleague says it seems as though I’ve been here just a week or two because time has gone so fast and another says how long it seems since I arrived. The way I feel…right in the middle. I feel as though I have been here for a year, not just 14 weeks; but I also feel that it’s gone too fast and I cannot believe it is time for me to leave! What a journey this has been. From those first lonely and long weeks of adjustment to all my adventures on the Nile River (one more to go this Saturday!) to the amazing moments in the field and the self discovery along the way…it has been eye opening and life changing. I have learned so much about the world through meeting the people you see in my pictures and I have learned so much about myself. And although I have NO IDEA what I will be doing in the next chapter of my life or where that chapter will take me physically and spiritually…I know that I will carry this experience with me always. The faces, the empty eyes, the smiles, the loss…the HOPE! And the happiness, peace and calm that I have found in my soul is something that I will concentrate on keeping there, no matter what comes into my path. I know that it will be hard sometimes; I know sometimes I may stray from that path and get lost for a moment…but I will fight my way back. I won’t let myself get soooo lost ever again! I won’t let myself allow outside influences to dimmer the light in my heart again, at least not so much. I will remember Uganda and its people and this time…and I will remember my new life motto, “no one can get in the way of what I’m feeling!”

We really are the masters of our soul and the captains of our own destiny…it’s up to us.


A few of my last photos from the field…

Norah Catherine...I really love this woman, so sweet and spunky and caring for 3 young children!





Joseph and Clement, 12 and 13 years old, living on their own for 3 years now and the sweet couple who check in on them.


Sunset from my favorite spot in Lyantonde.

Just a few things...

(Lyantonde Town early morning)

First thing…if you’ve been reading this blog, you know how much I truly love this country. The land is gorgeously untouched, natural beauty; the people are very welcoming and happy. But there is one thing that I haven’t mentioned that has just started to bother me in the last week or two…something I have been very patient with but finally, this weekend, I could no longer smile about it because I’m tired of it. I am tired of being discriminated against because of the color of my skin; I am tired of the racism. I am tired of having to bargain and sometimes argue my way to the fair price; the real price. I’m tired of people assuming that because I am white, I am rich. I want to be treated as a human being; as a fellow person on this great big planet. I have never been racist; I have always hated racism and discrimination against any minority. And really, I have always been attracted to people of different backgrounds, nationalities, ethnicities and colors because to me, the differences we have are what make the world interesting and exciting. I like the differences because I know immediately that we will be able to learn and grow and become better people because of them. So, after 3 months of dealing with being the extreme minority and always getting “Muzungu” prices…I lost it on Sunday.
I was trying to travel from Kampala to Lyantonde and was just really frustrated after the boda boda (motor bike taxi) driver and bus folks did exactly what I knew they would do: overprice me. I always have to explain that I know how much it costs, I do this all the time; I’m not a tourist just passing through. I am living here. Working here. Volunteering here to help other Ugandans and it would be really nice if I could be treated fairly. The boda driver laughed when he realized I know what I’m doing and said it seems like I’ve been here for a few years, not a few months and agreed to let me pay the fair price. The bus folks, on the other hand, were really rude. I refused to pay what they were asking and put up a fight…I really wasn’t in the mood! After 2 busses stuck to their “Muzungu” price of 15,000 Ush, I was on my way out of the bus park when a woman stopped me and asked if she could help. I explained that I travel this route every week…I know how much it costs; I’m tired of hearing “the petrol prices went up” as an excuse. I will pay 12,000 Ush and no more…and should really just have been paying 10,000 Ush. She was very nice and took me to her bus, told me to remember that Gateway treated her fairly and allowed me to pay the 12,000 Ush. It’s just exhausting.

Another thing (and a much lighter topic!)…when I lived in Germany, I remember asparagus season as quite the phenomenon. I had never seen such a specific food celebrated so widely and passionately…everywhere you look during that season, there is asparagus! They really love their asparagus. Well, last week I realized that it is grasshopper season. For 3 months the strangest thing I’d seen people eating were the cow intestines that are part of the traditional Ugandan breakfast. But now, there are grasshoppers around every corner! People are selling them on the sides of roads already fried in their own oil and in a baggie, coming onto the bus to sell them; my colleagues are eating them at their desk for breakfast and the guy on the boda next to mine is carrying a big bag of them too. They are everywhere! And if you don’t see them dead in a bag waiting to become someone’s snack, you see them hopping around still alive trying to escape an inevitable death...or in the hands of children playing (above with one of my favorite girls in town). Grasshoppers are a delicacy here and now that the “rainy” season is over (it didn’t rain so much), you can’t get down the block without seeing them. It’s crazy!

And the final thing today…I just love the smiles and innocence of children! Yesterday after getting a chapatti making lesson from the cooks at one of the restaurants I frequent, I ended up playing games with a group of about 15 children (some pictured to the left). They always get excited and gather when they see me…always say, “BYE MUZUNGU!” in their little, sweet voices (and I always wonder, why say goodbye before we’ve said hello?). Anyways, yesterday I decided to teach them “duck, duck, goose”. Although, since I don’t know those words in Luganda, I made it “chicken, chicken, goat” or “nkoko, nkoko, mbuzi”. And they loved it! I don’t know when or who decided that I would always be the goat, but they wore me out. It was a really great hour and then I was off to take some pictures of Lyantonde. A very relaxing day. Three and half days left in this town that’s become home before I head to Jinja and the Nile for my last four days in Uganda…will be hard to leave, but will be so easy to hug all my loved ones once I get home!

Some pictures

Delivering clothes to children in the field...

Below, some pictures from Lyantonde Monday morning after "Chicken, Chicken, Goat"...

Two weeks to go and the roller coaster begins...

(My Favorite Tree)

Just two weeks left here in Uganda and I feel like I just got into the front seat of a roller coaster of emotions: sad to leave Uganda, so excited to see my family and friends back home, and anxious/nervous about what is going to come next because I have no idea! I think that most, if not all, of the people reading this know me well enough to know that I wear my heart of my sleeve. You know how deeply I plunge into life’s experiences and how much I genuinely value the different moments that trickle onto my path. This time in Uganda has been so incredibly wonderful and life changing…and it came at such a crucial moment in my life. At a time when I was feeling completely lost and as though I was no longer living my life, but that it was living me. So I decided to drop everything…quit my job, sell lots of my things, leave my beloved rented house in DC (yard and all!); say goodbye to my family and friends and take an adventure into the unknown. And believe me, as lost and unhappy as I was in my life…making the decision to leave it all behind for this unknown was still really scary. Three months later, I still understand that presence of fear, but am so grateful that I had the courage to face it because as one of my favorite poems says, “I took the [road] less traveled by, and that has made all the difference.”

I have no idea where I’d be if I had not stopped in my tracks and come to Uganda…but thankfully, that is something I don’t have to wonder about. I am here and I am a better and stronger person because of it. I have taken the opportunity to look inward and grow as an individual. I have weathered hard weeks of adjustment to get to a place emotionally and mentally where I could fully appreciate this experience. I have met beautiful, amazing, strong willed people who I know will never stop fighting for themselves and the people around them. I have read a lot of books; written a lot of words; taken a lot of photographs; practiced a lot of capoeira; gone on many quiet jogs; and just spent a lot of time with myself finding a beautiful peace and calm in my soul. I have been more adventurous and independent than I can ever remember being…being addicted to the Nile River is one of the only addictions I’ll ever try to hold onto…
…I just spent yet another weekend on the shores of the mighty Nile. I am sure by now it sounds like a broken record…but I just couldn’t help myself! It’s so hard for me to put into words the way I feel when I’m floating down that river or tackling its Grade 3-5 rapids. There are moments of peace and calm and moments of pure adrenaline, adventure and excitement; and all the while, you feel lucky to be surrounded by such natural, untouched beauty. It’s hard to be anything but sincerely happy! And this was the only time that I got to go with a few friends. Usually I just make friends with the people on my raft, but some of the girls I met last time I was in town were going one last time before heading home this week…so it was a great excuse for me to go back to see them and enjoy the river together (Team Zappa photo above at end of day). Because Jaime always rafts with Charlie, otherwise known as Prince of the Nile (pictured to the right), we got to raft with him on Saturday and it could not have been a better, more perfect run (definitely a tie with the first time for my favorite trip down the river)! Charlie was awesome! He was more than happy to take us down the hardest lines and we even did one rapid that none of the other boats did which ended up being one of the best of the day…Chop Suey. We had great runs on all of my favorite rapids…no falling out too early, no not flipping when we wanted to flip, not one disappointment…it really was just a perfectly awesome and fun day!

That night we celebrated and partied hard. It was a really fun night and I even ended up at the club at the end of the night dancing up a storm. Sunday I was feeling a bit rough, but ended up spending the day with a few friends lying on the rocks of the river next to one of the rapids…50/50. We swam, climbed a big tree and jumped into the river a few times (something I was really proud of because I was never a good tree climber and it was a pretty high jump…maybe 30 feet), drank some beers, sang some songs, just relaxed. It was such a great afternoon because it was so unexpected and unplanned…it just kind of happened. I also met the cutest little boy when I was getting my chapati omelette (MMMM!), Ibra, who became my buddy. Love him!

I had to say goodbye to the girls on Monday morning. I’m definitely bummed they won’t be there when I go back for my last two days in Uganda; but am just glad we got to spend some time together. It was nice to have some girlfriends again! My trip back to Lyantonde was quite long and a bit frustrating at times, but I made it! I wanted to pick up a bale of clothes in Kampala to bring back with me to deliver to some families in the field but had to go to SIX banks before I found a machine that was both working AND had money in it! UGH. And it was a rainy day, so the dirt streets were just a muddy mess…but I’ve gotten over worrying about having clean feet in this country. I just roll my pants up and do my best to stay balanced; I’m still convinced I’m going to fall on my ass one of these days! Anyways, we finally managed to get the money from the bank and get the bale of clothes to the bus (which will clothe about 100 people). Just picture me riding on the back of a motor bike with a suitcase on my lap weaving through the heaviest traffic you can imagine (African style, re: bikes, motorbikes, people, mini-bus taxis, cars, delivery trucks and more all jammed onto one narrow, crappy, full of potholes, muddy, puddle filled city road). Like I said, it was a long day!

So this week and next we will be delivering clothes and goats to several families thanks to the donations of family and friends. Mom and dad, Aunt Peggy, Uncle Bob and Aunt Donna, Beth, Petrina, Jose Raphael, Frank, Mrs. Cantlin, Jill and Dave…THANK YOU. These 12 people from the states, Australia and Ecuador have contributed a total amount of $2000 US!!! Amazing. Donations from $5 US to $1000 AUS and several in between…I cannot thank you all enough for your generosity. I plan to hand deliver a lot of the clothes and goats so that I can personally meet the families, takes some photos and write their stories. That way you can all know what your donation means to the people who receive something from it. I haven’t had a chance to go into the field for over a month now, so I am really glad that I have the opportunity to see the hope and happiness in their faces again before I leave this organization. So again…thank you!