Power to the Africa Crew

We went to Beads for Life and received a warm welcome. We then had a meeting and learned about the organization and how it was run. After we were shown how the beads were made and the process that they undergo. The organizations purpose is to give an opportunity to the poorest women in Uganda and help them start a bead business in order to support their children. Dinner was a great experience that night. We dined at a local Ethiopian restaurant, sharing three huge platters of food between all nine of us. It was also our night to wish Sarah goodbye, because she was going her own way the next morning. Miss u girl!
The following day we left the hostel at six in the morning, took a long bus ride to Jinja in order to raft the Nile River!When we arrived we were handed our gear and given a quick class on rafting saftey. After our training was complete we set off down the river to face a series of nine rapids. This expearience can onle be described as amazing, awesome and a total adrenalin rush. in the end we felt very proud of what we had just accomplished. How many people can say they rafted the Nile River with class 5 rapids?! In the end we enjoyed a BBQ lunch/dinner and took a long drive back to the hostel. The hostle was gorgous looking over the Nile. We all slept very well in one tiny room and then in the morning we made our way to Soft Power Education. We got a tour of the main location, then settled in to a sister school and then given instructions on what we would be doing for the next 5 days. Our mornings were spent painting the interior and exterior of a classroom block. The entire painting process took 4 days to complete. In order to let off some steam, one day during break the two Adams challenged each other to a jousting match, with the use of paint covered rollers. The match ended with both boys adorned with paint splotches and everyone watching in hysterics! Our afternoons were booked with Swahili classes, that were taught by Roy who was an awesome language teacher. He also gave us some unofficial lessons on East African culture. On Monday, Emily had the privilege of visiting Soft Power Health, which was an amazing experience. She was taken along to a number of interviews about malaria prevention, and even did some of the interviews herself. In the evenings, we played soccer, Frisbee and chatted with the local kids. After playtime we sat down to a scrumptious dinner prepared by our cook Monica, who was a total sweetheart. On out last night at Soft Power, we aided our cook in the slaughtering of a rooster. Our leader Adam did the actual slaughtering and Jill helped to defeather the body. The meal was delicious and very much appreciated.
Our next stop is in Mbale to stay at a coffee plantation and learn about Fair Trade Coffee!
Peace out boy scout!
Lilianna and Jill.

YES and Lake Nkuruba

After free travel came to an end, we arrived at Youth Encouragement Services (YES). It was a quiet and beautiful hostel with purple morning glories growing abundantly along the fence. We were all more than happy to find that showers, bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen were in good condition and easily available. We were even spoiled with access to a volley ball net and a ping pong table, where some very heated games took place in the late evenings. Our group was also given the very fun yet challenging task of self catering. Our meals consisted of tasty food such as stir-fry, spaghetti, beans and rice, tuna pasta salad and chapatis with guacamole for dinner. Cooking in the kitchen was a great bonding experience for our group. We worked over the counters with tears in our eyes from the slicing of onions, while we cracked jokes and dipped spoons into the pots to taste our wonderful creations. On the second day at the hostel, we were given a bit of free time. This time was used to give Saxon's hair a trim, which then turned from a trim into a spontaneous Mohawk. Mad props given to Lil, Sarah and Adam D for maneuvering the scissors and electric razor with a steady hand, which turned out to look like a professional job in the end.

       Our days were spent volunteering at the Mana Rescue Home, which is an orphanage dedicated to the care of HIV positive children. There were about thirty kids at the rescue home and their ages ranged from four years old to seventeen. It was truly an eye opening experience for our group to have the opportunity to volunteer there. The kids were real sweethearts and even though their energy was low they were very interactive and enjoyed our company. The orphanage was well organized. A significant portion of their food is grown right there on the grounds. The fresh and nutritious food has a huge impact on the health of the children and their immune systems. We were also fortunate enough to eat lunch with the children for a few days, which proved to be delicious. In addition to a healthy diet, the children's medical care and medication is supplied by the Ugandan Government, which is extremely helpful to those who are HIV positive.

    While we were there, our major project consisted of repainting a dining hall and kitchen. We painted for a number of days and were supplied with bananas as snacks and a CD player, so we could paint to the beat of the music. We also spent a couple of days playing with the children. Our leader Adam played a game of football (soccer) with the boys in the yard. Allison kept the kids entertained with a game of Frisbee. Emily assisted and observed the nurse practitioner when the children came in for their monthly checkups. Adam D and Saxon talked, hung out and got to know the older boys at the orphanage. Jill pained the girls finger and toenails a cheerful bright pink. Sarah, Lil and Bridget kept the kids laughing and running about by setting loose a huge bag full of super bouncy balls, bottles of bubbles, and toy cars. We left those days feeling exhausted yet playful ourselves.

    We then concluded our stay at YES by going out for a wonderful and scrumptious dinner. The food was amazing and served home style. The conversation we herd between a few Europeans was equally enriching and gave us all insight on the opinions some people have about the way volunteering should be run.

    We spent the following morning in town picking up supplies for our stay at lake Nkuruba. Despite a torrential downpour, Sarah and Lil were able to obtain all the food we would need for self catering during our camping trip.  We later loaded all of our bags and groceries into a small bus and headed for the camp site.  The sight was located atop a lush hill surrounded by monkey infested trees and overlooking the small but none the less magnificent Lake Nkuruba.  After moving into our tents we were shown the modest kitchen, complete with an nonfunctional oven and wood fire stoves, where we would be preparing meals.  Preparing meals proved to be more challenging than we had hoped, as successfully building a fire could take over half an hour.  However, all of our meals turned out to be very delicious.

    We spent the next four days lazing around the camp site, sleeping in and going for occasional swims in the lake.  On Sunday we loaded up the bus once again and after briefly meeting Carol, the founder of the Yes Orphanage, we began the long journey to Kampala.

Peace out and we send our love,
Jill and Adam

Free Travel

SIDE NOTE: We have just posted pictures to our earlier blog posts, so scroll down and check out what we have been up to!

We are now half way through and started off our free travel Uganda going on a canoe trek for 2 days in Lake Bunyoni. We set off mid morning and canoed over to one of the many islands in the lake to begin our trek. A few minutes in, we learned about different plants that are around the area. Owen, our guide told us about the story behind the shy flower. If you like someone but are too shy to tell them, you can just give them that flower to show them how you feel. After that endearing story we went to the local church and listened to the amazing songs of praise from the congregation. When we finished clapping along to the song we headed out to the local bar to get undercover from the rain. Miha (the founder of Edirisa) joined us on our trek and told us how they make local beer in the area. They allow the fruit to ferment, and then later on mash it to a pulp using their feet, which they don't clean prior to stomping.

We then continued on our way up the island receiving an occasional chuckle from the local children whom found it amusing to see nine mzungus (white people) decked out in ponchos and rain gear when they themselves were wearing their everyday attire. . Due to the rainy conditions the ground was still very muddy, so slipping and sliding was a common occurrence. In the end we arrived at our destination safe and sound. 

We arrived at a beautiful community center /developing backpacker’s hostel, complete with a killer view of the surrounding lake. This sanctuary was called African Explorers and the man who ran it (Yonic) was truly a gift from the heavens. We got settled and took shelter from the rain under a banana thatched hut. Our spirits were lifted even more when we were given a bottle of soda and settled down to hear Yonic's story of how African Explorers was founded. His speech and his story were from the heart, filled with truth and incredibly thought provoking. We all walked away from that place changed in some way. By this time it was around 4 in the afternoon, so we dropped by a local home where our rumbling tummies were fed a hardy African lunch. Lunch consisted of cooked plantains, sweet potatoes, goat meat and a delicious soup. After the tasty food had been consumed, we were taught to make crafts by the mother of the house. We attempted and tried to keep out patience with the complicated art of bracelet weaving, and had a go at it for a good 45 minutes until the mother assisted and ended out struggle by giving us all bracelets that she had pre-made. Our trekking group thanked the mother for the delicious meal and for the craft class then we preceded back down the island, slipping and sliding the whole way. Once we got down safely, we paddled our canoes to Tom’s Island. Tom is an amazing man with a trademark voice deep enough to do voice over’s for TV commercials back in the U.S.We had now been with Tom for awhile since he was our night guard man at one of the Edirisa locations. When we arrived we got settled into our tents and had a nice meal around the campfire. The rest of night was spent listening to traditional songs, being taught traditional dances, which in turn we had to teach a dance from the U.S. Adam H and Emily taught them, along with some of the group members the electric slide while Allison supplied us with the instrumentals. The rest of the night was spent being told local stories that our guide attempted to translate for us. 

The next morning we were awaken by the crested cranes, which Jill says "sounds like child dying in pain", needless to say we were all very pleasant in the morning.  After breakfast Tom briefly showed us around his island and then we soon continued on our way for a day of island hopping. We visited four different islands that day, two of which had involvement with the people who were affected by leprosy. We had a quick snack at the island where the doctor who treated them lived, and then before heading over to the island where the lepers lived we stopped for a quick swim. Of course right when we jumped into the refreshing water, the sun decided to go away, so we left for the leper island. It was very interesting to hear the stories of the lepers whom just a few years earlier lived there. The buildings that once housed them have now been turned into a boarding school for children. It was quite an educational experience.

on our way back in the canoes it began to rain once again and the wind started to blow (keep in mine that we still had our wet bathing suits on). So on order to warm ourselves up we engaged ourselves in a canoe race. After ferociously paddling team Emily, Jill, Miha, and his fiver year old daughter ended up wining the race. We were all rewarded for a hard day of work with the most delicious dinner we have had yet in Africa. When we finished, we contently returned to the home. 

At six o'clock the next morning we headed off for a day of travel to reachdidn't have our reservations. We were all ok with that though since it turned out the Exotic hotel was a "flop house" or otherwise known as a place for people who would like to be with their mistresses would go. We ended up in a nice hotel and spent our first day in the town tying up loose ends, such as doing our laundry which all of us desperately needed to do. The next day we went to Semuliki National Park. The long, cramped, bumpy ride was well worth it. The park borders Uganda and Republic of Congo and can only be described as beautiful and breathtaking. We walked around for about three hours listening to the sounds of the rainforest. We also visited two different hot springs, one that was 106 degrees Celsius and the other 103. At the female hot springs our guide Elly, boiled some eggs for us in the water. The eggs proved to be piping hot, yet very tasty. It was a wonderful hike and great way to spend out last day of free travel.

love,
Emily and Jill

Edirisa: Week 2

Hello Again! We just finished up our second week working with Edirisa in another village. Our group, (Adam, Bridget, Jill, & Saxon) stayed at the Teach Inn where we worked around the school on local projects. Jill & Bridget assisted in classrooms like mathematics, geometry, and general sciences. Adam and Saxon finished hoeing a garden that will soon be planted with vegetables to feed the volunteers, and together we all finished a compost bin that the whole school will be using by the end of the month.We went into a nearby village for our last two days and helped them repair a classroom with plaster and cement. During the break time we played sports with the children and even captured and released a family of mice that we found living in a classroom. For our last night at the Teach Inn, we celebrated with members of the local community and school board with a pig roast and a delicious feast full of music and laughter. Today we begin our free travel, beginning with a canoe treck along the beautiful Lake Bunyonyi. We will update you soon upon furthering our free travel adventures!

Untill then-Bridget & Adam

Team Gorilla Part II

Team Gorilla went on a lovely bumpy ride to Lake Bunyoni. We got settled in and as a group sat down and planned what we would be doing during our stay. Sarah and Emily taught math, body parts, and songs in the nursery. Lilianna taught an art class, and Adam taught an amazing environmental studies class. We had plans to teach a swimming class, however, during our stay it rained most of the time so we ended up talking, laughing, reading and playing games inside. We also found time to build another successful compost pile with the help of the other volunteers.


During our time at Edirisa, we undertook a beard challenge to be able to shave Adam's beard however we so desired. After completing, four different tasks, for example: showering him with compliment for a day, we ended up shaving half his beard off, a style which he sported for 24 hours.

Lilianna, Emily, Sarah, Adam

Quick Update

Heyo from the other half of the group. We spent the week on the beautiful Lake Bunyoni, where we dug a garden, dug out a space for a compost bin, and assisted in after school activities. Jill and Adam ran a P.E. course, Bridget oversaw an art class, Saxon did dance and became godfather to a chicken.

In our free time we swam, went canoeing,  took a hike, and watched football at a neighboring resort. So, yeah.  Until next time.

Jill, Saxon

Team Gorilla

We have now left Rwanda and have started our adventure in Uganda.  Before we left though we were able to visit the Kigali Memorial Center where we learned about the genocide that occurred in Rwanda.  The tour began by going through multiple gardens which very artistically helped convey the different emotions, actions and people affected by the genocide.  Once we finished our time pondering through the gardens we entered the museum.  The museum is split into three parts;  the first part is about colonization of Rwanda, second about the actual genocide and third, genocides that have occurred in other countries along with how the genocide affected children. By the end of our time at the memorial we felt an array of emotions as we reflected upon what we had just learned.

Later that night we were in higher spirits as we got dressed up (well, as much as we could) and had a delectable meal at Hotel de Mille Collines. That hotel is where the story for the movie Hotel Rwanda is based off of. Having dinner there was a great way to spend our last night in the city while celebrating our month-aversary.

The next day we headed out for Uganda. We are now in the middle of our time volunteering with Edirisa. The group has split into two groups. We spent our first week fixing a path and making a compost bin for the community at The Teach Inn. There we enjoyed making friends with the locals, giving ourselves facials with the clay from the clay pits, having intense twister games, going on excursions to the market to buy our food for the week (yes, we cooked ourselves) and enjoyed delicious rolexes. For those who have not been introduced to this type of Rolex it contains a chapati (something in between a crepe and a pancake) an omelet, and another chapati rolled together.  They are a great on the go type of food. Now we are having a day off and tomorrow we will be heading off to Edirisa's other location Lake Bunyoni which we here is gorgeous!

Sincerely,

Team Gorilla (Sarah, Emily, Lil, and Adam H.)