Update from Uganda

Greetings and Happy Easter! We have so much more to share with you but we are leaving at 6 am tomorrow to go on safari so we must go to sleep for now. If you do not hear from us for a couple of days, please don't worry - it just means that we have no / slow internet. We'll return soon and will have even more to share about our time on safari on the Nile (at Murchison Falls National Park).

Thanks for all of the views and comments - By the way, when you leave a comment, be sure tell us your name!

All our love from Africa!

Mass on Easter Sunday - Don't we look African?

Mulago Hospital

One of the visits we made earlier this week was to the public hospital, Mulago hospital. We visited the children's malnutrition ward which, as you can imagine, was a very sobering experience. It was very hard not to cry when we saw the severely malnourished babies but we were encouraged to see that there are also wards for children to progress into as they improve. It was very interesting to learn about the circumstances that contribute to malnutrition in children - poverty, lack of education of the mother, HIV/AIDS, etc.. We were very happy to learn that Mulago educates and supports the mother while her child is in treatment. They have several programs so that the mother learns about nutrition, hygiene, etc. while the child is in the hospital. While the visit wasn't easy, we loved meeting Sarah, the counselor at the Malnutrition ward and we learned a great deal. We were also happy that we could make a small contribution of soap and funds for the mothers of the sick children.

Walking between the different buildings of the Children's ward

Sarah poses with our twins after visiting with baby twins in the ward

Carrying much- needed bars of soap

Zzham and Alexis - Zzham is an EAC graduate who works at Mulago Hospital

The coffin makers along the road to the hospital are a sad reminder of the harsh realities encountered by so many Ugandans

Greeting us and informing us about malnutrition among Ugandan children

 

Ugandan Artist Maria Naita

On our way home from Retrak, we stopped in at the studio of a famous Ugandan artist (who is also a friend of Ursuline Academy), Maria Naita. We wanted to see her studio and her recent work as well as to meet some other Ugandan artists. It was a short but inspiring visit and maybe you will see an original work by Maria soon in the halls of UA....

Maria and Ms. Haley

Learning about Maria's work

Large Sculptures are common in Maria's body of work

Agnes & a favorite painting

Brian from EAC joined us on the special visit



Maria and two of her fellow artists

Look who's here!

We were overjoyed last night to receive Sr. Anne and Sr. Grechen from St. Catherine's Primary School in Kenya. They have joined us for Easter weekend and we are so happy to see them! Sr. Anne visited Ursuline in 2007 and we have been close to her and to her school since that time. We are excited to have the Sisters with us and we are also excited to give them all of the socks, shoes, sheets and towels that we brought for their students. We are also so happy that our UA students (from the Art Club and from the Student Council effort during Catholic Schools week) recently raised  $3000.00 for scholarships for St. Catherine's students. Sr. Anne and Sr. Grechen are delighted to be with us and they have only enhanced our wonderful African experience.

Sr. Anne and Sr. Grechen

Mariama and Meghan welcome Sr. Grechen

The Sisters helped us to stuff Easter eggs

Sr. Anne was thrilled to receive a photo from the UA Art Club

Life in an African Village

It's been another phenomenal day! Our friends at Empower African Children (EAC) thought that we would like to learn about how women in rural Uganda live.  So, we spent the day in the home village of one of their scholarship students, Patrick. We met Patrick's mom and were tasked with helping out with the daily chores : preparing lunch, digging vegetables out of the garden, planting, making a fire, fetching water, cutting leaves & trees and, my personal favorite, relocating the cows. Parents, I am sure you are laughing and are perhaps a bit frightened thinking that your daughters would not be too successful at these tasks. In fact, they were pretty great at all except for relocating the cows (they were hostile according to Ms. Haley who was dragged along, but is fine, by an uncooperative bull). They also allowed the EAC boys to carry their water but, overall, they were enthusiastic participants in all of the daily activities! It was true experiential learning and we are so grateful to have had this unique opportunity.

 

On a quest for water ...

Ms. Nipp checks the Peanut Sauce

Coach Daus built the fire

Patrick, his mom and George, our old friend from EAC

Ryan digging potatoes

Village Children

Caroline brought back the potatoes that Ryan dug up for our lunch

Always making friends

Peeling the vegetables - with a knife :)

Posing with Sugar Cane

Ms. Haley demonstrated her machete skills - Wow!
 
 

Nadine lending a hand

Time out to Wobble with our new African pals

"That's not how you cut cabbage...."

Sugar Cane is delicious!

Dirty hands, full hearts :)

We were so inspired by Patrick's mother, a loving woman who cares for 11 children and who welcomed us with open arms.
 

Our day at Retrak

Today, Holy Thursday, we spent much of our day at Retrak, an NGO which serves street children (primarily boys) and helps them to "Retrak" their lives, ideally reuniting them with their families or placing them in a foster family. No one is sure how many street children are in Kampala but it's estimated at 15,000 or more. Today, our Ursuline delegation was tasked with playing a soccer game, providing & serving lunch and organizing a hip-hop dance contest for the children at Retrak. We were joined by some of our friends from Empower African Children and we were so grateful for their help because the crowd was huge and demanded a lot of attention from each of us. We must also admit that our EAC friends really helped out in the soccer game!! There is some dispute about the final score but maybe we lost 4-3. Probably we made a more respectful showing in the hip-hop dance contest which created quite a sensation with the street children as well as passers-by, neighbors, etc. It was a beautiful expereince to see these young people, from totally different worlds, come together in friendship and festivity - a wonderful Serviam-inspired event which seems so appropriate for Holy Thursday.

Michael, the hip-hop champion, receives the grand prize

Meghan with the second & third place winners, already wearing their UA Texas shirts

Father Joe and the YES center

Here in Uganda we have a special relationship with Father Joe Luzindana. Father Joe is the Catholic priest who oversees ministry to the youth of Kampala. Since Uganda is a nation where 78% of the population is under 30, Father Joe's work is very important. Father Joe has huge dreams for the YES center. He has already started a vocational school for local women to learn tailoring and sewing. He hopes to one day have sports facilities for local children at the YES center.

One big dream that Father recently shared with Alexis Hefley (founder of EAC who is accompanying our trip)  was to have a computer center where youth can come to learn computer skills and to connect with the world. He had no idea where the computers could come from but he prayed for this dream to come true. I am so, so proud to say that our Technology Department at Ursuline heard about Father Joe's dream and they decided to make that dream a reality. Led by Susan Bauer, our quiet technological hero, the technology department refurbished the "hot spares" (extra laptops)  from the Class of 2012. They cleaned the computers and made sure that they and their batteries were in excellent working order. Then, we had the great privilege of delivering those computers to Father Joe. 

It's hard to put into words how overjoyed we were to have the honor of making this gift. Father Joe and his whole staff of workers and volunteers greeted us with a special reception where Father Joe cried from joy, of course, we cried with him. We hope that this is only the beginning of a long and loving relationship between UA, Father Joe and the YES center.  

Note: We are having some difficulty captioning the photos. They are all from our time at the YES center - the lovely reception prepared for us, funny moments with Father Joe, our visit to the sewing class, some of the children served by the YES center and lastly, an artist painting a mural of the Ugandan martyrs on the wall of the YES center (just in time for Easter). 

Oh happy day!!!!!