Memories of Uganda

Thank you so much for sharing in this incredible journey! I learned so much myself and gained a deeper appreciation and kinship to Ugandans, and Africa in general. This shot is from my friend who snapped is as we were initially greeted by the Shanti Uganda women. I am in the yellow shirt full of joy! All these women were so inspiring, all HIV positive, dressed in their best clothing, dancing and singing for us in welcome! These women believe in the mission of Shanti Uganda, supporting natural and healthy births, for their daughters and future generations to come :)

By the way, we are continuing our work by starting a nonprofit called Seva Uganda, currently in the works of a partnership between Off the Mat Into the World and Women Like Us Foundation. The projects are continuing! We intend to do the following to make an even great impact to assist in the needs of Uganda today:

1- Acholi Project - we've already raised $4000 for a scholarship fund to educationt the Acholi children, partnering with Building Tomorrow to provide free education, and sponsor host families to take care of the child attending a school in their area. We intend to fund each child's schooling through University level so they can give back to their community later in live and end the cycle of poverty and aid dependency.

2- Building Tomorrow - we are continuing to raised funds for Building Tomorrow schools. We are involving US. public schools and universities to design, fundraise, and travel to Uganda to participate in the construction of the sponsored school. This will also help our endeavors with the Acholi.

3- Shanti Uganda - we are continuing to provide medical supplies and support for the new birthing center, especially to fund nurse salaries and education since staff is low.

4- New Hope School & Orphanage - we are providing school supplies for the children as well as starting a mentoring program with volunteers in the community to mentor and befriend an orphan. We will also support their medical care and education so they can also give back to their community later in life.

I also just started running Yoga In Action groups, empowering local interested individuals through a journey of self discovery to uncover their life purpose, and align their life with that purpose. Then together we can truly make a difference and serve the world on a local and global scale.

Building Tomorrow School Site

With a busy week I am finally catching up, but the week started with three days at the Building Tomorrow site. Building Tomorrow is a nonprofit that raises funds for and builds schools in Uganda. One thing that is definitely true after experiencing the issues in Africa, is that education is truly the best gift anyone can give. Education people helps to reduce poverty, violence, inequality, overpopulation, disease, and more.

Building Tomorrow's 9th school was totally funded by you! The school building and teachers' quarters. For many nonprofits, and very importantly, sustainability is priority and works hand in hand with project affordability. I love how the bricks and mortar are made from the earth materials right on site. The brick making machines were purchased to make interlockin bricks for the school. I also love how the whole local community comes to help build the school, which promotes community bonding. This is a very important point, too, regarding work in other countries. Foreigners who come in a say "We build you a school." Well they build the school but then there is a stigma from villagers where they don't feel attached and are much less likely to use the school because it is something "they" built. So having community involvement is definitely important for the feeling ownership and sustainability, because they are benefitting their own community.

It was awesome the first day we arrived to help because we had piles of bricks that we needed to move from one part of the site to another, so, and we learned this at Shanti Uganda's Birth Center site, we tried to make a chain to pass the bricks down like an assembly line, but we didn't have enough people because where the bricks needed to go was so far. So Terri, one of our group, went and grabbed all the children! They came out as a herd and all lined up, like 35-50 children, and we made a really long assembly line to pass down all the bricks. The kids were so cute and fun, all different ages, helping to build the school they would soon attend and gain an education. One mother actually said she was happy because her children would only have to walk 2 miles to school now instead of 5! Talk about gratitude, what a gift it is to have that appreciation. There is so much we can learn from each other!

So I had three days of hard laborous work, hoeing, carrying bricks, breaking bricks, making bricks, shoveling, wheel barrowing, but I loved it all! I loved doing the physical labor and being in the earth, working with the community, it was so therapeutic for me. I realized how much we are missing, generally as Americans, by sitting at a desk all day. We really are totally separated from nature. I love how Africans mostly live in a small one room mud hut, compared to Americans who have large homes with 5-10 or more rooms, bathrooms (nice though), because the living space for Africans is all around the home, out in nature. They don't stay indoors all day, they sit on the porch, do work outside, play, but just sleep and take shelter inside. I truly feel that kind of living, more with nature, is very important to human health, well-being, and simple enjoyment of life. In many ways, Africans are much healthier than us despite for having so little comparitively and living so simply. Our cultures can definitely learn a lot from each other.

New Hope School & Orphanage and Yoga Gathering

Here are the kids each with a photo of him/herself.. which may be the only one they ever receive.

The new mattresses have replaced the old ones in these living quarters.

The new mattresses we bought for the kids.

Terri and the girls.

Today we traveled to visit the New Hope School & Orphanage near Entebbe. Our fundraising and item donations provided new mattresses for all the kids, almost 100, as well as books, art supplies, dental care products, recreation items (soccer balls, frisbees, jumprope).

These kids were so sweet and so cute, and so sad. These orphans are parentless, children from age 4 through 17, boys and girls. I gave them topical fluoride treatments and played frisbee, read books to them, talked and took photos. The children actually had pretty healthy teeth, nice and white, clean and healthy gums, probably because they eat better than American children. They don't eat processed, high sugar foods. Ugandan kids eat food right from the Earth, fruits, vegetables, very healthy and natural, and no processed food. Also their milk is raw milk, not hormone stuffed or pastureized. As a result, they have very healthy bone structure and teeth.

Some of us taught the kids yoga, painted a mural, played with a parachute thing, and we also took their photos, each child, printed them, and put them in a frame to keep. That is a rare gift, and many Ugandans never see their reflection or know what they look like. We also helped in making a garden for them... a sustainable way to provide food for the children as well as a funding source, through food sales to others.

A man named Godfrey runs the orphanage and primary school. He is a Ugandan himself, with all these children. He says it is hard to keep teachers because they do not have enough funds to pay them well, and the children need good teachers.

The children, especially older ones, know how to read and write in English. One girl sat lose next to me, of around 13 yrs. She said her father died in 2002 and her mother died in 2004... she did not state why even when I inquired. She was then placed under the care of her grandmother, who could not care for her. They found this orphanage and she arrived in 2007, and hasn't seen her grandmother since. This girl sat so close to me, longing for some touch, caring motherly touch that has been absent from her life for so long. They like their community as kids, but get very lonely. Many of these children have parents that died from AIDS, and it is very likely some kids have it, too, though it is unknown until tested.... and testing costs money.

It was so heartfelt when we had to leave. The children really appreciated our presence and willingness to spend time with them. My friend Terri took a few of the girls, teens, to sit on a bench and chat as we said goodbye...telling them to study hard and have confidence to be what they want to be, sentimental things, and then tears came down one of the girls face, and she cried more, then hiding her face down, wiping her tears with her skirt. That had me, Terri, and friend Galadriel who walked up, all in watery eyes, trying to hold back tears.

Our efforts of fundraising, as a group brought in over 1/2 million dollars to fund this work, at Shanti Uganda, New Hope School & Orphanage, YouthAIDS, and Building Tomorrow. But so much more is needed. If only every person in America, Europe, Canada, at least the developed countried right now, could give money or volunteer to help the world in such a way.... such a positive difference could be made on a significant scale.... why don't we help more?

So, as a wonderful detox. We were invited to a yoga studio, run by a man named Gavin.... beautiul place in is gorgeous house, yard, patio for yoga, bonfire..... we greeted each other and then we all performed a ritual for intentions, in honor of the new moon, for renewal of the self. We had three pieces of three different colored papers. One set to write what we want to release, another set to right what we want to continue or emphasize, and a final set to write what we want to create. We embodied each one as we processed the ritual. The first set to release we burned in the bonfire. The second set we kept safe as a reminder, and the last for creation we integrated, and walked around to feel an African sage for the air element, fire to represent action for what we want to manifest (candle flame), water to help us release obstruction, and a very old volcano rock to represent earth, grounding, and the sprouting of that creation. Very mystical, but it centered me and worked. I love those crazy yoga rituals.

We then had a delicious vegetarian dinner and chatted all night. It was so refreshing and just what I needed completely. I felt so free afterwards.

White Water Rafting on the Nile River!

Today was a true adventure! We travelled two hours to the source of the Nile River to go whitewater rafting! I had never done this before and it was a very symbolic experience.

So we lather up on sunblock, dressed in bathing suits and get set up with a life jacket, helmet, and an oar. We split into the groups of "wild" and "mild" based on what we wanted to experience on the raft..... so I chose "mild" having never done this before.

Okay, so we get in the raft, and our man, our guide Big J gives us the low down. He teaches us commands, rowing forward, backward, stopping position, down position, and what to do if you fall out or if the whole boat capsizes. So we put the two African men with us in the front, our two guides for our whole trip out here in Africa..... the strong ones need to be in front, but needless to say neither had ever rowed ever before and were clueless on how to, a wake up call for me.... so Big J brings them to the back and puts myself and Sophie in front as the strong ones. We were the leaders now!

So my roommate, Colleen, is already freaking out, asking a lot of questions out of nervousness. We start going down the river, the freaking Nile River! and go past an easy class 1 rapid, not too bad..... then we plow through a class 2, and then a class 3, and then a class 4 and College pops out of the raft! We learned how to grab one of the kayaking heros who would fetch us if we fell out, so she finds one and latches on and finally gets back in our raft, hysterical, crying, shaking, and our guide hugs are and calms her down, wipes her tears, so sweet. She finally calms down, but feels more courageous, so we start off again.

I get into this leadership role of encouragement and morale building, and we all really start supporting each other as a team. Yay! So here we go towards a class 4 rapid. Once we get into it, we duck down into the boat to prevent from falling out, but them wham! a big rapid knocks Sophie, Megan, and me out of the boat! We fell out towards the end and luckily were in a calmer spot. I held tight to two oars, got back in the boat fast, pulled in by Joseph our trip guide, and Sophie, too, but Megan got a kayak hero and he brought her to our boat, after asking her if she had a boyfriend.

It is amazing how it happens. You go down some rapids, we are all there and then some are gone... you don't see who pops out as you go through but after the storm. So immediately you look back and see who's missing, and then look out into the water, and are so focused, so aware, so adrenalined up knowing your sole mission is to find your crew and haul them back in, somehow, anyhow... and I was surprised how muh control I had in this situation, calling out to people in the water, giving direction even if I went in, trying to keep the team together, delegating, encouraging, empowering, really being a leader... until the last rapid which you will read about soon.

I felt pretty good after that and in control, like a good leader giving direction and all. So we go through a few more, doing good, and it is interesting because you learn when to paddle and then when to chill and go with the flow, letting the current carry you.... and when you pop out of the boat that is exactly what you do, surrender and let the current carry you to calm waters.

So we get to a calm spot, and Big J says, "Okay, now the biggest rapids are coming up, a class 5. So just stay calm, always stay calm. There are 4 rapids to get through in this one, so it is longer. Take deep breaths as we row, so you have breath if you pop out, and last 8-10 seconds before you are out and rescued. If you pop out, let go of the oar, hold your vest, tuck your knees in to your chest and you will pop up like popcorn."

So here we go, I'm a little scared, but after this one is a class 3 and then lunch. So we go, we have no choice, there is no turning back on the river. So we go paddling hard to the central channel of the rapids, and then he says, "Stop, get down!" and we grap the rope and get down in the boat. Splash comes the first rapid, splash comes the second, the boat turns sideways and I pop out crashing into the waves. It was so hard to breath, and so hard to catch my breath. I go under, and then come up, trying to take a quick inhale, and go under again. You have no control. You have to let go, stay calm, surrender to the flow of the current and be carried down. It becomes survival, even when I had to take a breath, the rapids are all around splashing everywhere, so even when breathing in I took in water in my lungs, and I definitely felt it in my right lung, cool and sitting in there, uncomfortable. I didn't know when I would be pulled under, or when I would pop up, so when I was up I took my chance and inhaled quick! I had no control, I was under water, abover water, pulled under water, and scared, very scared, but I just focused on that opportunity of air and trying to breath until rescue. I felt a boat hit my side, thinking it was a kayak hero, and then I realized it was a boat and I was hauled up fast into it. I coughed up water while trying to fully drop in. I thought it was a different boat but then I realized it was Big J who had single handedly grabbed me and hauled me out, I was in my boat, and the gratitude I felt towards Big J was of total devotion and appreciation for saving me. I quickly resumed my front position, and then we found Megan who also popped out. I luckily was grabbed out of the rapids somewhere in the middle of the 4 big ones, but Megan had traveled all the way down and we found her clinging to a kayak hero. She coughed and belched up water as the kayak brought her to us, and she was scared, taking some time to calm down.

For both of us the first pop was no problem, kind of fun, but the last one was scary. It was total survival and knowing if you could just keep on breathing when popping up, that eventually you would be rescued, and trusting the universe completely with your life. I have to admit my body was shaking after that, internally trying to calm myself down.

So needless to say, we became the "wild" boat. We all went down the same rapids, "wild" and "mild" but the real "wild" boat had only one person pop.... our boat had a rough ride... but it definitely was fun... so our boat had the wildest ride for sure.

How happy was I to be on calm water and have survived.... and although Big J has been doing this for 10/11 years and the kayak heros were around to rescue us if we floated off, it was still scary and still dangerous, especially that last rapid.... but I had to surrender and just breathe until rescue.... I could breathe, but for Megan, she had engulfed enough water to feel like she couldn't breath in air even when she wanted to... what a scary feeling.... so I am VERY glad I survived, even though they made it as safe as possible anyway.

Not to say I wouldn't go again, but I'm guessing white water rafting on the Nile is like skiing in the Alps, as opposed to Pennsylvania or something. It was sooo much fun, but scary that last part. I shined and I surrendered.... big symbolic lessons today. My husband would've loved it, though, but not the scary part. If he was with me we both would've been nervous wrecks if one of us popped out.

Man was I tired after that, and lunch was healthy and yummy on an island in the river. The Nile River is beautiful, and so warm, and so refreshing to even just swim in... that was glorious.

So we are on the bus and I see these poor kids, looking so sweetly at us saying goodbye... I feel bad for these angels and give them my water bottle, Colleen gives them her soda and more and more of us give them our water bottles and drinks to share with each other. Nothing is more appreciated than those gifts... think how hard it is to have fresh, safe water to drink there.

So we drive the 2hrs back, and I rest at the hotel and catch up on email stuff. Then we go out to dinner at the best freaking Indian food restaurant in the world!! And I was so hungry and so tired, and this Indian food ws honestly the best I have ever, ever, ever had. uuuugggghhh is was absolutely Divine! So good!

So now I just blogged, catching up finally, and I'm exhaughsted..... ready for bed... to refresh for a full day tomorrow at the New Hope School & Orphanage to play with the kid and help build a garden.... kids with no moms and dads, lost to war, AIDS, or starvation. There is no way to prepare for Africa.

Earth Rising and Shanti Uganda - Gifts and Goodbyes

We went back to the site of the new birthing center in construction and helped Earth Rising in the process. Today I helped make bricks today out of dirt and water. We put the dirt in a little manual brick maker thing, which we then compressed very tightly, which created a solid brick to dry in the sun. We made 75 bricks in about 75 minutes!

We did not spend too long that morning with Earth Rising, so we said our long goodbyes after working in the morning. It felt incredible how bonded we became and so quickly with these people. We drive away down the dirt road looking at the tiny homes along the road, children in rags, feeling tired but exhausted from the work the past two days. Then all of a sudden the men surprise us running out from another road chasing after the bus for a final goodbye! Cheering us and celebrating as we drive away. It was the most thrilling experience and I really finally felt the impact that we had on this community, how all our funds were supported this huge effort, how many jobs were created, how many workers were paid who could then make a living for a period of time. I realized then how much we were appreciated and in a very genuine way. Those men went out of their way to give us a thrill. It was exhilerating!

We then went to Natalie's house to have lunch and give her all the donated items for the birthing center. We brought out the suitcases full of items and open them for her to see.... q-tips, gloves, towels, flashlights, blood pressure gauges, vitamins, pain reliever pills, iodine, band-aids, baby clothes, and more and more and more items and medical equipment. She was so appreciative of all the items.... our funds and work really are helping her dreams come true and those of women for healthy and safe natural births.

It was an extraordinary wrap-up to our time with Shanti Uganda and Earth Rising. I felt sad to leave the people and the friendships, but happy we were really making a difference, showing every dollar given is being used and turning into a reality for the people of Uganda.

The beautiful children

They also got progressively more shy the shorter they were.

This guy above was sooooo sweet, and he carried around the toy in his hand everywhere.

All the kids were sooo cute! Aside from the photos above, Nick of Shanti Uganda gave then a box of empty water bottles (from us during the day), and it was a treasure to them, they held one or two and ran around with them all night. They don't need nintento ds. :)

These kids, and even adults, really like seeing themselves in the camera screens, especially when they have never seen their reflection ever before.

Earth Rising Doing Yoga!

Seane taught our men yoga! Our construction team with Earth Rising (and Adam), and they were so fit and flexible because they use their bodies every day! Check out those forward bends, reaching beyond the toes!

It is so satisfying to know all the money we raised and that you gave is funding this work. Natalie is doing an excellent job in stretching every dollar and making sure the funds go towards the work. It is hard sometimes to find a nonprofit that works so efficiently.

Building the Birthing Center with Earth Rising

Here is Danielle, above, stacking bricks, made from the earth, and using a mixture of earth, sand, hay and water as mortar......I'm stomping and mixing it above with friend Terri!

The new building for pre-labor! Baby births in waiting, also for trainings, meetings, and more! The photos with Natalie (purple dress and founder of Shanti Uganda, the one with this whole vision) are of the new birthing center, the building that will be set aside more privately for women in labor and ready to give birth.

SHANTI UGANDA & EARTH RISING
The New Birthing Center
2/10/2010
　
Today we embarked to the construction site of Shanti Uganda’s new birthing center, but as a caravan of bodas, or motorcycles. What a joyride, riding on a motorcycle was thrilling, feeling the wind, seeing all around you, waving to locals all along the ride. It was awesome. And we were being filmed the whole time by two people from Australia/New Zealand. These are making a film called/about Women in Yoga, and Seane is being highlighted especially regarding her Off the Mat Into the World work. So the filmmakers are filming these three days we spend with Shanti Uganda. And one of them is in a jeep, standing, torso out of the roof, filming us the whole time.

So, once we arrived, we met the men workers and women volunteers on the construction site, and we saw everything our fundraising is paying for. One birthing center, one examination/general purpose building for women in waiting, office, education/training, and yoga, and one gazebo type structure to have a thatch roof for outdoor gatherings and meetings. The birth center will have a birthing tub as well as a small plastic bowl embedded in the earth for squatting, so midwives can grab the baby and pull out avoid floor contamination and especially to prevent any HIV+ spread from mother to baby. The building will run on solar power and have a drainage system which will collect water for use at the center.

So today we became part of the process, Natalie, founder of Shanti Uganda, toured us around the soon to be facilities. Adam, founder of Earth Rising, is the building contractor for the job. Both happen to be Canadians, young and very nice, fun people, passionate about what they do. We were split in groups to help out in different ways. We then had a tour of the surrounding village by an African named Sam, which was his family land. We visited his family and saw his livestock, fruit trees, home, children, and even family cemetery along the way.

We had a lot of fun stomping on a mixture of mud clay, sand, water, and hay to mix it into a thick paste, which was used as mortar for the walls of bricks, which were made out of the same material. However different brings of just dirt and cement were used for the external walls of the buildings, and even earth bricks, which included manure as an ingredient, were used for walls on the interior. So I stomped away and had so much fun mixing up the mud and working with the other Ugandans. I also helped sculpt a little with some mud, creating trees on the interior walls of some buildings, to create a natural setting indoors. I really felt a connection to the earth, to mother earth with my hands and feet in the red, fertile soil. I felt connected to my ancestors from long ago, from our place of origin in Africa.

It was really incredible to realize that all the work we took part in, all the people helping, all the buildings in construction, and the entire birthing center in itself, all happened because of the funds we raised. Otherwise it would not have been there, only the land as it was before. Now mothers will be able to have the maternal care they need to give birth to healthy babies, to stop the spread of HIV/AIDS, to provide real, healthy medical care to women, who, even though they could get it free at the hospital, the hospital has scary and unsafe practices, so people fear going there. Women will not be able to go free to the birthing center, but they will at a much smaller cost than other birthing centers in the area. It was thrilling to be a part of this work, to have my hands and feet in the mud, to work with the locals, to meet with the men and women that believed in this work, and to really feel a part of the entire process, to see all the hard work, all the funds, all the determination manifest into something beautiful and wonderful that will help local women, the community, and ultimately it represents more positive change in the world that would not have happened without all our work as sevas, all our fundraising, our supports, and in the end our passion to serve and make the world a better place. One American dollar goes a very long way in Uganda.

And so the men did yoga! And they were so flexible and incredibly strong, int./adv poses were definitely doable, especially as first timers! I suppose, unlike us in our American lifestyle, they are always moving their bodies, esp. in their laborious work, building, carrying, reaching….. their forward bends were all the way, baby…. They could do crow and jump back to chaturanga…. It was incredible and they really had a good time. It made me realize how much we neglect our bodies in the United States, how separated we are from our bodies and how unfit our bodies our. The disconnect is incredible, and how many loathe their own bodies in America is very sad, too. There is definitely a lot we can learn from Africans. I realized today that we as Americans are the ones that are clueless. In Africa they live so simply. Even building today, the materials were all from the Earth, and the structures were really nice! So simple, so connected to the planet, to nature….. And we in America have become so disconnected, it’s no wonder we can shift to a more environmentally friendly way of life, because we have forgotten how to do it! We have a lot to learn, or should I say relearn.

Tonight we went back for delicious food and a bonfire of music and dancing…today as a whole I will totally in my element, totally primal, dancing to drums on the motherland of Africa. Digging in the Earth with my bare hands, and stomping feet (with the cuts to prove it from the rocks). The HIV+ women from the other Shanti site was present and we had a dancing frenzy. Suzanne of OTM played the drums, and the kids helped her, as we danced. Everyone was having a great time together celebrating life. We sang “See with my eyes, sing with my voice, open my heart to see the beauty of the world” which Suzanne created just the night before.

The children had such glowing spirits and were very excited to play with us, hold hands, and goof around, acting silly to the cameras and then seeing their pictures on the camera screens. But they were so poor, wearing shirts full of holes, rips and tears. We felt guilty eating dinner since it was only for us as guests and no one else. I ended up at least sharing a plate with a friend to save some for those who would really need it. I learned later, and would have done so or at least would have gone back for “seconds” or “thirds” for this reason, but my roommate and another friend gave their food to two of the children, and they devoured it, eating quickly with their hands. We could have each gotten several plates for them to feed from. Some had swollen bellies from malnutrition, these beautiful children with bright spirits, full of laughter and fun, not knowing any better than their current life…… we could make such a difference.

Bishop Asili - babies

The are pictures of the Bishop Asili Birth Center, and we will be building one with our raised funds tomorrow. This baby was born only two days ago, mommy and mommy's sister watching over her.

Shanti Uganda women pics

The women at Shanti Uganda, all HIV+, greeted us with open arms, necklaces around us, and songs, and this really special "Thank You Off the Mat" sign. See the related story in the post below.

Shanti Uganda - Bishop Asili Birth Center

SHANTI UGANDA 2/9/2010

Today we traveled to visit Shanti Uganda, where Natalie, founder and only age 27, has started birthing centers for women and camaraderie groups of HIV+ women. They are located in the Luwero district of Uganda, over an hour north of Kampala.

Upon driving up in the bus, the countryside is quite beautiful. The country is very green and lush in this region, unlike the deserts in Northern Africa. We passed banana trees and other tropical plants as well as street side markets of people selling various fruits and vegetables. Motorcycles are all over the place as well, people selling, fixing, and driving them. All the roads are dirt roads, but smooth, with mud/brick huts of homes and small household farms along the entire route.

The Luwero district is much more concentrated than the road, full of markets and mud/brick huts. Upon turning down a side road, a woman selling bananas sees the likes of us in the bus and rushes over to try and sell her stock. We move on, but there is a clear association of the wealth of the white people that visit, and they visit on very a rare occasion.

As we walk down to the birthing center, there is an enormous greeting of 28 women, HIV+, dressed in their best clothing, clapping, screaming, excited for our arrival. We come down the road they come and hug us while draping us in necklaces and we all dance. Then we see a beautiful sign these women created out of fabric and beads reading “Thank You Off the Mat Into the World”. It was such a wonderful welcome.

We then went under a gazebo type hut, to meet the women. They went through a brief training on breastfeeding safely with HIV. Then they sang a song and danced for us, we joined in on the dancing, and then we sang a song to them. It was a wonderful greeting. These women, despite being HIV+, had the kindest, brightest spirits. These were all beautiful women, who danced and laughed and nourished each other. There were babies and super sweet kids around doing yoga with us and simply having a good time. The children were all such angels, especially one who was actually deaf and seemed to have some kind of mental delay or condition. He just smiled and waved, and we slapped hands few times as a game in different combinations, and to hear his laugh was such a joy. It was not a normal laugh, due to his deafness, but it was the cutest giggling and moan sounds, not really “moan” but single tone sounds. He was so sweet and his grandmother truly loved him, he was a child very easy to love.

Then we ate a delicious meal the women cooked. After that we taught them yoga, learned how to make beads, and toured the birthing center. These women made beautiful beads out of paper, in long triangular shapes, using a needle they rolled them tightly from the wide base to the point, sealed with glue. They then varnish them and string them into necklaces and bracelets.

The birthing center was extraordinary. Traditionally, women give birth in very unsanitary conditions, and it is likely the mother and/or child can die in the process of childbirth, and many from a simple infection. Shanti Uganda is extremely good at keeping their facilities very sanitary. There are so many complications with childbirth, that women will walk for days from their homes to this birthing center to give birth. Actually, Africans practiced a very natural for of childbirth that is slowly coming back, squatting, walking to encourage the baby’s release with the help of gravity. However though Westerners that through the area told them their practice was not right, and taught childbirth on a table with the stirrups, as still done today in the West. Now, doulas or trained midwives are helping to bring the traditional, safer and more effective ways back. Many women either birth at home, which is not good when complications arise, or in a hospital, which in itself is a very scary place for women and based on Western practices, so the birthing center is something in between. They do have a C-section ward, but only do C-sections when the natural way is truly not an option due to a complication….not like the West now, where birthing is done by appointment through C-sections. The women go all natural, with no painkillers, no epidurals, etc. And most of them just need the caring support and encouragement of another individual. The men are rarely ever with the woman at childbirth (married or not), so usually a sister or other family member helps in the process.

We ate a delicious lunch and dinner, both consisting of local clean food, sometime that tasted like potatoes, some beans that looked like green lentils, cooked greens (like kale of the sort), a delicious nut sauce (like a peanut flavor), rice, and some kind of tree pulp I think, matoka, which is probably the wrong term, but it was something like that. Soooo delicious is authentic Ugandan food.

People are quite interested in us, too. Although many have seen 1 or 2 white people, it is much more rare to see a group of them, especially at night, which 5 of us were doing relaxing after dinner with our guide…. But they are all very nice and friendly people, curious about us just as much as we are curious about them.

Tomorrow we will get dirty, and help build the next birthing center with nonprofit Earth Rising, which our funds helped support.

Some more photos of the Acholi...

Acholi Quarters - a closer look

Here are some more pictures from the Acholi Quarters, a group of people devastated by war, forced to accept poverty for safety. I've been having some problem uploading photos due to the slow internet, but I will do my best.

Acholi Photos

These photos are from our visit to Acholi Quarters. Of all the donated items we brought, we took a bit to give to kids of two families to whom we were assigned, 40 families total. Each family also received a bag each of sugar, beans, and flour. When we asked Seane who payed for it all, she said, "You did," thanks to all our fundraising, we can help these severely impoverished people, also victims of war. The two families above I went to and delivered gifts. The mothers are so young and have so many children to take car of. The children are so adorable and everyone is really friendly.

Upon visiting and helping these people I was actually quite nervous. These people have gone through so much suffering, I almost felt undeserving of being in their presence, having the luxuries and privileges of American life. They so appreciated every little gift.

I also felt uncomfortable at times, feeling the stigma of "oh here I am a white girl helping these poor people of Africa, oh so heroic of me"....but what do I really know? Nothing of the trauma they have experienced. After exploring this feeling, I realized this was my own perspective, and if I were an Acholi, having a group like us come in to provide such gifts would be wonderful. I did not want to feel like I was helping them out of "American guilt" as many do. I also didn't want to be seen as some kind of hero, but when we in America see people doing such service, it may come across that way, with arrogance. That was uncomfortable to me, and the only thing I could do was remind myself that I can only do the best I can right now with what I have and hopefully inspire others to reach out more. I really wanted to do more for them, but having pity only exhausts us as sevas, so in order to help I need to work through whatever emotions arise, to cleanse and stay strong in this place that has experienced so much corruption and war. Seeing the smiling faces of the children lit me up though, who know nothing else other than their present experience. Sometimes ignorance is bliss. But it made me realize my own ignorance, in only being exposed to the American life, bigger is better, more and always more. If only we could destroy our own ignorance and see the experience of the rest of the world, we might really find our purpose of service and love, we might really find meaning then in our lives rather than searching for it in money, cars, homes, stuff.......I think the economy crash was meant to be, to give us Americans a wake-up call, to see what's really going on. To simplify our lives and as Gandhi said, find ourselves by losing ourselves in the service of others. I'll have to work with this feeling and see what continues to arise.

Day 3 - History of the Lord's Resistance Army - hell in Uganda

Today marks our first full day in Uganda. Waking up in the Sheraton to a gourmet, delicious breakfast on a beautifully sunny warm day was wonderful, but very different than our excursion later on to the Acholi Quarters.

After breakfast we heard talks from Joseph of Building Tomorrow, who we will help build schools next week, as well as Andrew Morgan and Margy who help run the Invisible Children movement. Also as guests were members of the Acholi Tribe, two women to tell their stories of terror when confronted with the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), and their life now in the Acholi Quarters, essentially a refugee camp in Kampala.

As explained by Andrew Morgan, Joseph Koney, leader of the LRA, wanted to overthrow the government in southern Uganda and started the LRA in 1986. He initially had some interest from the local people, but it was not organized and when interest waned he took severe measures of building an army by abducting children and forcing them to fight for him and carry out his work. They never challenged the government but only terrorized the people in northern Uganda, and these people were the Acholi Tribe.

This year marks the 24th year the LRA has operated in this way.... going unseen from the West until recently thanks to the films Invisible Children and WarDance, highlighting the plight of the people. In the first few days after abuction, children are forcibly "numbed" to the violence by committing an unspeakable atrocity, a small example of which is to bite someone to death, to kill someone to death with their bare hands, to cannibalize someone, which most likely is a family member. Koney uses the child soldiers to raid villages for items needed to survive in the bush. Boys fight, girls care for soldiers and become one of their "wives", serving as sex slaves, though any offspring that result are most likely killed. Why invest in feeding and raising a child when you can just abduct one to serve you, I suppose is Koney's thinking. Children from 8 years up have been abducted and can be imprisoned into its practices for however long, some even 10 years of more, in a twisted life of fear, manipulation, and violence. Many try to escape during the night raids and return home, but traumatized to all different degrees from their experiences.

So, due to the danger the Acholi tribe was displaced to these camps near Kampala. They are extremely poor and growing. They cannot find work or grow food where they currently live. Without jobs, any money the women make selling beads, they give to their husbands who spend it on liquor and drink as their daily hobby.

The LRA has been pushed out of Northern Uganda, now plaguing Sudan, the Republic of Congo and surrounding areas. Still wrecking havoc. The Acholi people in the north finally are experiencing a sense of peace, hope, and empowerment for a better future. Though this positive attitude has also resulted in less interest of going after Joseph Koney.

So why do the Acholi in Kampala not go back home if they are living in such poor conditions? They would be starting over from nothing, which is far more challenging then where they are now. They have no homes and would need money and supplies to build them. They could farm, but have no seeds and to start a crop would still take five months until harvest so what do they eat until then? These are their concerns and until they get help with such a transition, these people remain victims of war and dependent on the government for food...their current way of life is not sustainable and contributes to a cycle of dependency on aid. If only the goverment could help them transition back themselves.... or a nonprofit who will really make sure the funds go where they need to.

This 24 year war with the LRA is worse than Darfur, uncovered only recently. Joseph Koney was the first internationally wanted criminal with the creation of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and has yet to be apprehended. The invisible soldiers are innocent children, victims of war. Any death of LRA soldiers is essentially killing the victims of such horrific manipulation.

Today two women talked about their life as Acholi, the LRA, and life now in the camp. One woman had a son abducted by the LRA, who she heard became an escort for Joseph Koney, and later heard he died. One of her other children contracted AIDS, from whom she and her two other children contracted after treating his rash wounds. Those children died. She now lives in the Acholi Quarters. Another woman experienced the LRA 5 times. She said they would pick the parents out from the family and kill them while the children watched. Once she was forced next to a pole with a soldier intended to slice off her head, but instead she ducked and the machete missed, slicing the pole instead, she survived. She has seen 4 people from her village killed by being cut to death. To prevent victims from spreading the word of the LRA's presence to other villages or the government, they would take their lips and either put a padlock through them or cut them completely off, as well as the ears, sometimes the nose, too, completely disfiguring the face. This woman also left the homeland in the north for safety in refugee camps.

There has been so much torment and these stories have been untold for too long. So learn more and bare witness yourself in my next entry regarding our visit to the Acholi Quarters.

Arrived

Our group has finally arrived in Uganda! After over 24 hours of travel and being airborne, flying over the world. It is very lush here were we are staying, which is the capital city of Uganda, Kampala. I slept well and today we are venturing out to visit the Acholi Tribe and distribute food. The Acholi Tribe is the group of people who have been displaced from their homeland in Northern Uganda, due to the danger and war involving the Lord's Resistance Army. They are extremely poor, but I suppose that is worth it compared to living in the fear of war.

I will post pictures and more soon!

Mission: Uganda - Off the Mat Into the World

Hello!

I am one of 21 women to each succeed in raising $20,000 for Off the Mat Into the World's Global Seva Challenge "Bare Witness: African Humanitarian Tour" (all thanks to you and our wonderful community of love and support for this cause)! Together, we have raised over $500,000 for humanitarian work in Uganda.

From Feb. 5-21 2010 our group will travel to Uganda to take action in helping a severely impoverished area of the world. We will assist nonprofits Building Tomorrow, Shanti Uganda, New Hope School & Orphanage, and YouthAIDS. We will help build schools, organic sustainable farms, and natural birthing centers while providing aid to the Acholi Tribe, devastated by the Lord's Resistance Army, and supporting AIDS education/prevention work.

Stay updated on our work in Uganda by checking in on this blog, celebrating Yoga for Unity's first global mission! Writings, photos, and video footage will be posted here during the trip!