Shanti Uganda

I felt a little sick while at the Shanti Birth House the last couple of days, so I am feeling a little spent right now. I am much better with antibiotics, but super tired. Before I sign off and go to bed, I wanted to share a few photos of my time with this amazing program. It is located on a beautiful piece of property in a more rural part of Uganda.  The garden was lush, the air was clean and the birth center was beautiful. I enjoyed sharing some of my doula knowledge with the midwives and had a blast learning to make banana leaf dolls with the teens who are part of their teen girl education program. Shanti is such a great program and I can't wait to watch it grow and evolve. There will be more on this, but I am too tired to write anymore. Enjoy the photos. 

Acholi Quarter

I finally have some time to elaborate on our experiences at the Acholi Quarter. Despite the women's suffering and many challenges they face on a daily basis, they greeted us with welcoming songs. I felt very uncomfortable that we didn't have a song or dance to offer back. Gotta work on that because this welcoming song business is becoming a trend! It was a really great way to kick off our time there and I made many new Acholi friends as a result.

 We were having a meeting before our training sessions on childbirth, yoga and firstaid when a bunch of kids came to sit next to me. I couldn't help myself and had to play. We did horsey rides for 30 min and then some more later. My thighs are so sore, but it was worth it.

This is the daycare. A tiny 10x10 room packed full of kids. Despite the physical conditions, the teacher (Jennifer) rocks. She is such a smart, spirited young woman with so much to offer her community. I look forward to keeping in touch with her. Who knew I would have a friend in the slums in Africa.

We took the opportunity to crash some breakdancing lessons again last night. I learned some "locking" moves. I wish these guys were in Bend. It is so much fun! Don't worry....there is more to come!

I love this little cutie pie. I got my snuggle fix with this precious baby Tracy (Jennifer's daughter). She cracked up every time a motorcycle drove by. Funny little girl.

I will miss our dear sweet friend Ester. She wouldn't smile in the picture because she didn't want to say goodbye to us. We danced, hugged, shared stories, and she will always hold a special place in my heart. The beads around our neck were given to us by the wonderful women we connected with during our two days.

The teen mom group. Heather and I had a fun discussion about childbirth and other girl talk. We gave them some great tools and they were excited to get a new perspective on labor, birthing in general and relationship issues. By far the highlight of my trip so far!

We passed by these police vehicles today. They park them in the "walk to work" protesting area to intimidate everyone. Luckily, the threat is pretty far outside of Kampala where we are staying. That's all for now. Sorry for the random posts. Hard to think after long emotional days outside in the sun. I am headed out tomorrow morning on an overnight at a birthing center. This is what I have been looking forward to the most.

UGANDA AT LAST!!!

  My new little friend, Malco. We shared a lot of laughs and then he blessed me with pee all over my lap....or at least that is what the women told me as they giggled. 

Sorry for those of you following my blog that I have not had a chance to check in. Internet is spotty and I had an overnight of travel. Senegal was great and I am now in Uganda. About two hours after I arrived at the hotel in Kampala, we went to join in on breakdance lessons with Breakdance Project Uganda (B.P.U.).
It was so fun learning from the B-girls and boys. I have a killer "Baby Freeze" now, along with a really sore neck....ouch! I can't wait to work with them again at the orphanage. Today we toured the Acholi Quarter with Life in Africa and got to know some of the members of the organization. I honestly thought I would be overwhelmed with sadness for the Acholi community, but I was pleasantly surprised. I really connected with the women and felt very welcome. Instead of sadness, I felt total joy today! We laughed, we danced and we shared stories about our families and community instead. We spend a good part of tomorrow with the same women. I hope to learn more about their needs and desires so I can find out how I can best be of help when I return home. I look forward to sharing more photos tomorrow when I am not so exhausted. Must get rest!!!

Missing Marvin!

Our sweet dog Marvin passed on today. He put in 13 good years and will be greatly missed! I'm sad that I can't be with Cookie and the girls today to give them all big hugs. Overwhelmed with a mix of emotions, I'm finding it hard to blog about my visit to the Île de Gorée. Check out Gina's blog for a little more insight on our day. I'll leave you now with a few pictures....

Where Do I Begin?

So many random things happened today, that I don't know where to start....

 

                        ...perhaps the lovely bathroom in the Sendaga Market where                                          our guide led us? The rustic wood door was a nice touch!

Or maybe the love birds at our hotel at breakfast?

The beautiful children and colorful fabrics?

The funky transportation?

The factories? 

I am not sure where to start, but I am going to end with some fun new friends we made at the hotel. Abdou, on the left, is a local who recently moved back home from an 11 year stint in the United States. He's going to graciously show us around tomorrow. Nice break for me as he is very fluent in English. Daniel, on the right, is from London and is on a road-trip adventure from Morocco to the Congo to find the remote Lake Tele where there is legend of a loch ness type creature called the Mokele-Mbembe. 

Wow...I wonder who we will meet tomorrow?

We Made It!!

After a long 20 some odd hours of travel, Gina and I are safely in our lovely beach front hotel in Dakar, Senegal.....freaking AFRICA!!!! Thank goodness karma was on our side......

We had a really easy flight to Salt Lake City and made our only tight connection of the whole trip with time to spare. We were in the clear, or at least that is what we thought. Our ten hour flight to Paris was fine too, although my sweet row of seats all to myself turned into sleeping quarters for an infant. Lucky me! 3 movies and 15 minutes of sleep later, Gina and I find ourselves in the Paris airport with a serious case of jet lag. After a bight to eat and a little blogging we found ourselves some cosy little couches attached to the cafe. We had a very long layover, so we had grand plans of taking a little power nap, perhaps getting a pedicure, playing some Bananagrams, reading, maybe sleeping some more and then getting over to our gate with plenty of time to make our connection. Little did we know, we would pass out amongst screeching chairs, intercom announcements and some crazy repetitive loud banging noise for nearly 4 hours. I was 3 sheets to the wind when I heard a low groggy voice calling my name and asking me what time it was. Gina had luckily awoken to use the restroom and just happened to see the clock on her way back to continue napping. It turns out we had exactly 25 minutes to wake up, pack up our yoga mats, pillows and other belongings strewn all over the place and book through security, on a train to the correct terminal. Miraculously, we made our flight even though we were 2 minutes past the scheduled departure time. Phew!

After all of that chaos, our driver was at the airport as scheduled, we made it to the hotel in time to sit at the outside restaurant and enjoy some Beef Bourguinon with bananas, a glass of wine and the peaceful sound of ocean waves. Hopefully Gina's bag will arrive tomorrow!

I'm Off

Today is the day! 2 hours until I depart for Africa. First stop is Senegal. Let the transformation begin!!!

2 Days!

Only 2 days left before I board the plane for Africa!! Follow me on this incredible adventure! I will be sharing stories of strength from widowed mothers infected with HIV/AIDS, inspiring stories of empowerment and hope from the teen girls at Shanti Uganda, and I might even share some video footage of some of my new dance moves I will be learning from Breakdance Project Uganda at New Hope.

I feel so lucky to have this amazing opportunity to volunteer with 4 different organizations in Uganda:

Shanti Uganda

Life In Africa
Building Tomorrow
New Hope

I have also set up a ChipIn account in the event that anyone wants to help support my volunteer efforts. Thank you to those of you who have already supported my trip both financially and with your words of encouragement!