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.