Journey home, for a bit....

Micheal Franti & Spearhead....Kafero and I attended the most exhilarating, energetic and alive show I've ever been to ! Danced so hard I bruised the bottom of both my feet, yelled so much I lost my voice, was so explosive with energy I couldn't sleep that night and danced til my flight left London in the morning...(did I mention I got a hug and kiss on the forehead from him?!)..hows that for luck ?!

Flew to Paris last week on that rainy Friday morning and had an exploring day of trains and found delicious crepes and tea before getting on my flight for USA...
From the chaos of Africa, with a complete spaghetti pile of cars, motorcycles, bicycles, people walking, potholed roads, no traffic markings, animals roaming, and with no zoning laws, buildings of all sorts and all materials everywhere. Now, Welcome back to America...the word that comes to mind when I stepped onto this in the Detroit aiport..ORGANIZED...electronic devices so you don't even have to move your body to walk, it does it for you, and on these moving walkways, its organized in a 'walk' and 'stand' section, divided by a yellow center line, and labeled about ever 3 feet or so. Now both get you to the same place, the end, where that nice ladies voice informs you its about to end, prepare to move your body again. Also, the fear that feels absorbed by the mind when the loudspeaker warnings in the background of the airport beep every 3 minutes, "security threat level orange"beep. "remember, 3 in 1, three liquids in one bag" beep "do not leave your luggage unattended" beep "do not accept gifts from strangers". I felt like looking for the written aisle on the floor that said 'run', but I could only see 'walk' and 'stand' so thats what I did.
It does feel great to be home, like a big hug to be in the Upper Peninsula again. Eli is the exploring little being that keeps everyone entertained and brings so much life. The fresh trees, blue waters, sandy beaches, sitting under the stars and pure skies, so special.

August discoveries

So, after my parents and Kafero left Uganda, I had several weeks to eat mangoes, drink tea in the morning air and explore more volunteer opportunity possibilities for when I return to Uganda.

I travelled to Northern Uganda by a typical crowded bus with chickens, mattresses, bags of charcoal, cassava, lots of people, stopping a lot, potholed roads, waiting on the bus for 5 hours before it left, and finally arrived in the hub of the north, Gulu. The center of a lot of displacement camps and many agencies trying to address their needs. After wandering around the Northern town of Gulu, and taking several leads from the district Education officer, I found a special needs classroom, actually the only one, at the Gulu Prison Primary School and a few days meeting with the director, teacher and lovely students. What a joy to be around them !I also met with GUSCO, a national NGO, whose projects I had heard about for about a year now. They were originally the reception center for abducted child soldiers from the LRA. When they would escape, they would come here for about a month of rehabilitation and networking to reintegrate them into their homes, or if there was no existing family; setting up some sort of reintegration process and vocational skills/education setting to get them started. Because there have been no returnees for a while they currently are doing vocational training for formerly abducted children and for the child mothers. Also the new program, funded by the EU is working on the continued reintegration needed in the camps for returnees. When I return to Uganda, I plan to work with them on that project; currently in 8 sub-counties around Gulu.

Meanwhile, back in Kampala......yes, Nagawa makes her water debut...running at full speed....
I accompanied her on the school trip she attended to the zoo, now her second visit, but the biggest surprise was her taking to the water! She was quite terrified last time we were near the water; but second time around; she was thrilled! So great to see! She joined the other kids in the water and was just crazy about running and playing on the shores of Lake Victoria! This was actually my birthday, what a joyous way to spend a 27th birthday!
Nagawa on the left with her little school friends.

Her little friends.Nagawa and I making faces!
Her joyful giggles in the water.
Happy happy !Hospice Care in Uganda in limited ; but fortunately there are some services. This particular day I visited the Childrens Cancer Care. These little ones have cancer and are receiving chemotherapy along with others. The play therapy is set up to help them cope with the being in the hospital setting and a bit of normal child's play. I felt a special connection with these kids; and hope they have an opportunity for the same outcome as my cancer.

Flying from Uganda last week, I met Kafero in London and we travelled up to Nottingham to visit my sweet friend Anna. Wonderful moments and sharing; and strange for the 3 of us to be in England together; since most of our time together has been in East Africa; so a very different culture here!
Some luxuries though such as vegetarian restaurants....and spending whole days in Anna's garden....relaxing way to transition heading back to the US for some lovely family visits and more medical scans, tests and bloodwork. Fly out of London tomorrow, spend the day in Paris, and then back to Michigan.

Last Patongo glimpse

Going through my last pictures of Patongo area, I found these which show a bit more of the area and work that I was part of with Medair up until July.
My favourite tree outside of Patongo IDP camp where I would ride my bicycle to in the evenings to relax and watch sunsets. I would be alone for a few minutes, then a dozen children would run through the grass to the tree to sit and stand watching me, as I watch them with the sun streaked clouds in the background.
Staying in another IDP camp, called Adilang, these 2 siblings are very characteristic for this area of Uganda; young ones watching even younger ones.
Riding back from the giant tree one evening, I came across many people carrying their food distributions from the WFP, World Food Programme. This elderly woman was balancing hers on her head and is reflected in the mirror of my bicycle. She was starting the walk back to her hut through the grasses and we stopped to greet each other. This is on the Community Action Planning workshops that the team I was managing would facilitate. 3 days of meeting with community leaders and elected women, men and elders, listening to what their environmental health issues are in their camp. From the issues, they would prioritize, come up with solutions and create action plans to take steps to solving them. This method was impressive because when the community took ownership and did the work themselves; changes actually happened.

These school girls were lined up at the borehole gathering clean water in their jerrycans. I loved the morning air mist behind them in this photo. The three Patongo children, Rose, Dominic and Nancy were stars in the film WAR DANCE, an amazing documentary about the situation, struggles and resilience that Northern Uganda has faced. ShineGlobal, the producers of the film came to Patongo to show the documentary to the community; both a therapeutic and wound-opening night, and glimpse at how far they have come in returning to a peaceful life. Gathering with thousands of Acholi under the stars to watch the film in an open field was incredibly meaningful and touching being my last week in Patongo. For those that haven't seen the moving film, you can watch the trailer at http://www.shineglobal.org/

It may be hard to tell from the photo, but this is a 1 inch webbing rope that is pulled tight between two trees, called 'slacklining' in America. I've recently learned how to set up this very portable balancing act that requires a lot of patience, balance and focus to steadily walk on with bare feet. Great for meditation and personal challenges that mimic life situations in many ways. It simply requires effort; and language barriers are no issue in this straight-forward yet thrilling task. What a great thing to bring to an IDP camp, right? turned out to be perfect, with many trees, many children with not much to do; they flocked to the trees and after a few examples of what to do, were trying while holding my hand nervously, jumping up cautiously with their dirt covered feet. With confidence building each time, young girls were even trying and soon they were supporting each other with their own hands, balance and encouragement and I stepped back to watch.
Lake Oswego High School Spanish club spent last spring collecting soccer balls for kids in the IDP camp and there were joyous shouts when they received them !This was at my Medair goodbye party at our house in Patongo; filled with Medair friends and all the children I would visit with each day after work. They came dressed to the nines, joyfully ate chicken, rice and beans and danced til their bed time.

Sharing Uganda

Mom and Dad venture to Uganda ! A lovely visit filled with so many laughs, many explorations of the country, and a taste of why Africa is part of my heart....a few pictures to share their visit...Mom and Dad enjoying the view


Our tukul under the full moon


Out to lunch with dear friend Anna who I worked with in Patongo


Visiting Nagawa, a crowd of kids swarmed around us, Mom and Dad are there in the back !


Murchison Falls National Park, Game Drive, a friendly giraffe crossing the road

Kafero and I enjoying savannah hugs


lion blending in among the grasses !


a powerful shower at Sipi Falls, Mt. Elgon, bordering Kenya

Mom and Dad at their scenic grass hut at Lacam Lodge, Sipi Falls


Kafero's little cousins peeping through a window


At Kafero's ancestral village; dancing with the community in their traditional tribal Bigusu dance


Dancing, stomping, moving, drums, rhythms; a beautiful welcome to their culture and mountain village



Mom and Kafero's Auntie exchanging a hug