Brittney Visits Uganda!

Playing with a baby while William sips on the local brew

In the Village

Handing out the clothes that Brittney brought

In Jinja~ on the banks of the nile. Handing out the suitcase full of clothes that Brittney brought with her.

Boys bathing and clothes drying in the sun

Nile boat cruise to a cave

Murchison Falls National Park

It must be my lucky day~Ridin' the rainbow!

Murchison Falls

A perfectly balanced Friendship!

The girl can sleep...and I mean anywhere!

Hippos

Brittney and I at the bottom of the Falls

Croc tail...prehistoric?

Priscilla, Valley, Brittney and I~ in Fort Portal

Keneth on the wooden bicycle that the kids built at school

Bread and Jam for everyone!

Hilltop Primary School

More t-shirts for the kids in Ntungu

Visiting Teacher Olivier's home

Kerungi Children's Home in Kabale

Amazing Grace sends Brittney off with a bang!

Brittney and Zamah

Village baby chillin' outside her home with HAIR!

Amazing Grace Students taking shelter from the rain

Brittney and I with my Ugandan Family

Kampala chaos!

Hi Friends!

I’m back in action, after three and a half weeks of being a tourist with my sister I am happy to be settled again. It was a wonderful few weeks, but exhausting. Bus rides, hiking, visiting with friends, schools and swimming and giraffes…are all extremely exhausting!

She arrived with a suitcase full of vacuum-packed bags stuffed with kid’s clothes, so our first mission was to get rid of that suitcase. We headed to Jinja, so she could recover from her jet lag and distribute the clothes to village children, while resting on the banks of the Nile. Our new lovely friend William drove us to a village to distribute the clothes. Luckily, we started with some control from the “town woman”! We started with a neat and orderly line, but it didn’t last long. As the crowd increased the breathing space on the little grass mat where we sat was reduced and soon it resembled a mosh pit more than a line! It was a perfect introduction for Brittney to the chaos, desperation and gratitude of daily life. We hastily found t-shirts that looked like the right size or tossed a skirt to a little one with no pants and then I’d wonder if it was a girl?! They were so grateful, if only we had more!

Murchison Falls National Park was our next stop. After six hours of quality roadside watching we had three days in the game park! At the top of the falls we enjoyed the cool, misty shower she offered us after the hike in 100 degrees to get there! At the bottom of the falls we enjoyed the bouncing and turbulent waters and some cold Nile Special Lager while learning about the fateful double crashing of Earnest Hemingway’s planes near the falls in 1954. He survived the first sightseeing plane crashing near the top of the falls, and then when the rescue plane came for him, it exploded on take-off and he survived again, this time with serious head trauma. While we pondered this staggering information we watched the massive bulk of hippos rise out of the water around us and wondered how he ever made it out alive, after crashing in the African bush. Later that night, we watched a hippo roam around our campsite! The woman working pointed him out to us and told us, “give him space and don’t shine your torch in his eyes…he hates that.”  Then she tells us his starting speed running is 45 KPH. Was that supposed to be encouraging? Later that night I heard him as his thunderous steps toured around our tent, it was like a small earthquake passing by the tent. In the morning we woke up early and drove out, hoping to see elephants, giraffes and lions! We stood and our heads poked out through the top of the truck to see herds and herds of antelope, warthogs and giraffes! I can’t believe all the giraffes, they were everywhere and so beautiful and graceful. The giraffe has the highest blood pressure of any animal in the world, to get his blood up that long neck! And also, he has to spread his front legs and bend his neck just right so that the head doesn’t go below the heart! The elephants hid themselves from us until the end of the day and the lions never did show themselves, but what a sweet treat it was to come upon a small herd of elephants with little black birds perched on their backs eating the parasites off the elephant…what a perfectly balanced friendship, I could use a friend like that!

Now, we were finally on our way toward Kisoro. With just a few short stops on the way! First stop, Fort Portal to see my dear Priscilla and Valley-Wey again, sorry you missed the party Rick, but thanks for everything, it was really great! Priscilla was so good to us, and other than almost killing her on the way back up the mountain from the waterfall, I think she had fun too!!

With a homemade pizza in a box, a bag full of her delicious and famous chapati’s and a bunch of bananas Priscilla sent us off on a matatu to Mbarara. I’ve decided Brittney is a good luck magnet when it comes to transportation. We sat comfortably in the back seat of the matatu, each with a full seat to ourselves, for the entire eight hour ride! The following morning we meet Keneth when he got off the bus and we headed to Ntungu, the village we provided the water tank for and all those beautiful little students at Hilltop School. After two hours on a motorcycle with bags full of soap and sugar and meat and more clothes for the kids here all stuffed between us, we suddenly stopped in front of a little brick house on a hill, the house had an orange tarp stretched out across the front of it and under it were about two hundred people, all eyes were on us as I wiped the dust ring off of my lips and pulled the big dirt balls from my eyes. “Sure…let’s join the party!”  We agree as I try to get my hips functioning again to make it up the hill toward the expectant eyes!  Brittney had no idea what she was in for and when we are asked to stand and introduce ourselves, of course she was mortified! After some songs, offerings and prayers, singing and dancing from the kids and after the most incredible dance I’ve ever seen, from the town drunk! (It was performed while lying on the ground, with hips thrusting into the air!) We walked home and were soon followed by all the kids, who came running up behind us, everyone wanting to shake our hands, hug us or at least greet us. It was a wonderful welcome to the village. We spent the following days at the school singing songs with the kids, reading books to them, exploring the village and the best part was that we brought twelve loaves of bread and a few cans of jam. So, our first morning there we jammed about one hundred and seventy slices of bread, then delivered them to the classrooms. Not one student knew what jam was, but with big eyes they accepted while doing a little genuflect to show respect and a “sank you very much!” They savored that slice of bread and jam; it was a delicious breakfast for them and provided a little more in their bellies than a sweetie would!

After the village, we stopped in Kabale, where we visited the orphanage that I worked at in May. We also visited Lake Bunyonyi and swam and relaxed and hiked through villages to get there. We stayed with Sarah and her incredible little family, so many great people along the way, who fed us and housed us and cared for us and loved us. Unbelievable, how blessed we are.

When we finally arrived in Kisoro we were exhausted and enjoyed hanging out with my family and friends there. We went to school each morning and worked with the kids. We spent the afternoons climbing up mountains or exploring the countryside in search of a lake to jump in. The kids I work with are especially at risk of dropping out of school because of poor grades, or lack of school fees. For this very same reason, 50% of Ugandan school girls are molested by their teachers, who are often just kids themselves. Brittney decided to sponsor one little girl that she was particularly impressed by for her willingness to learn. I have been working with Zamah for almost six months now and on her last exam she jumped from 15% to 58%. She is eager to learn and was at school every single morning to work with me during the last holiday.  She is reading better than ever and I believe her scores will keep rising! For each year of education that a girl receives, it is estimated that she will produce 10% less children, and the likelihood of her contracting HIV is about 20% less. Not to mention that without an education it is impossible to gain any sort of employment, education is invaluable for these girls. I am so proud that Brittney will be providing Zamah with an education, hopefully all the way up to University, what an incredible gift!

Then, to top it all off, while she was here, we moved Wilson into his new home and had an official house warming, dedication and blessing for him! His new home, complete with a bed, sheets and blanket is beautiful! While visiting with him and inspecting his toes for improvement Brittney and I were attacked by fleas and had them up our pant legs and biting us for hours afterward! We had to confirm that the boys would wash all of Wilson’s clothes and even bathe him before he was able to sleep in his new bed. When we went home that night, we turned our pants inside out and pulled dozens of fleas out of the seams of our jeans. A small taste of what Wilson has lived with, but will no longer!

So, the adventure continues. Brittney’s visit has come and gone, but I am still here. I still have work to do and the adventure continues.

Thank you all for your love, your prayers and your support.

Every day that I live, I have more to be grateful for.

Bonnie B.

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. In fact it is the only thing that ever has.”                                                                                        -Margret Mead