living in fear

I had been warned about the safety issues in Africa but theres just no way to prepare yourself for this when you are used to feeling safe most of the time. I've travelled pretty extensively throughout Europe, Japan and larger cities in the USA so I know what is like to have to keep on eye on your belongings but this was way different. It started as I got off the plane, went through customs (at 11 o'clock at night) and the officer seemed quite alarmed that I was travelling by myself, I explained that I had friends meeting me at the airport. I got my luggage and as I walked out into the airport I had a bit of a panic attack thinking of what I would do if Natalie, Nic and Kristen weren't there to pick me up, I realized I had made no backup plan and was feeling scared and asking myself "why did I decide to this again?, I could be at home in my warm bed with my family" but no I was in the airport in Entebbe feeling terrifed. I walked out of the airport to this massive crowd, all Africans and I couldn't see Nat, Nic or Kristen. The most emotional part of my whole trip was when Natalie walked out of the crowd and gave me a hug, I thought I was going to start crying and not be able to stop, I could feel it in my heart, I got all hot and was just so relieved to see a friendly face :)

We had to stay in a hotel that first night because its not safe to travel that late at night and for the rest of the trip we did everything during daylight hours because its simply not safe to be out at night. I kind of enjoyed this part, it made things very simple and every day we were all home by 7 or 7.30 and were able to just relax and hang out during the evenings.

Dealing with this constant underlying fear was the hardest part of the trip for me, I made sure I meditated every day and did yoga as much as I could which really helpled. Lots of people asked if I would take my kids there and I'm still not sure about the answer to that one, I can deal with no water, power outages, being dirty all the time and always watching what you eat to make sure you dont get a stomach flu but not feeling safe is one thing when you are by yourself but not feeling safe when you have your kids around is even scarier.

All of the houses there have big concrete brick walls around them so they are safe at night so its very evident as you drive around that this is not a safe place.

When we went into Kampala to buy all the textiles training supplies a guy brushed up against me and unzipped my backback which was right close to me, I didn't even realize it but luckily one of the girls we were with was behind me and she saw it, I checked out my bag and he hadn't stolen anything - thank goodness but I was completely rattled, it really freaked me out. I guarded my bag like a hawk for the rest of the day, I also realized I had all the Shanti money to purchase all the goods so I was totally paranoid that it would get stolen, it would be one thing to have my own money stolen but worse to have Shanti money stolen. I told Nat about this when we got home and she told me the thiefs are pretty slick in Kampala she said she has had guys with their hand in her purse and she didn't realize it.

Next day I got the bright idea to ride one of the bikes to the site, Nic pointed me in the right direction and explained where to turn. I should know better, I'm terrible with directions but of course I was like "yeah ok I'll be able to find it." I was going to the site to put together some ideas for the landscaping and also to teach the savings training to the women. Before I left I said to Nat and Kristen "if i'm not there when you get there come and find me!" I got lost, was totally terrified and had this vision of me wandering around the bush at night until someone came to find me. (to hear the rest of this story see my next post - its kind of funny in hindsight)

Another scary encounter I had was in the latrine when the power/water was out for several hours, I waited as long as I could and then I just had to venture out and go, so I used the latrine which had cockroaches the size of snickers bars! It was totally frightening and if someone told me that I would end up doing something like that I would have told them "no freakin way" - oh how things change. Natalie said she was impressed when I came back in ad retold the story and I was able to make a little funny - I said we wouldn't need to hire bodas to get to the site tomorrow we could just ride cockroaches!

My daughter always says "face your fears" even though its really scary experiencing unpleasant things, it does feel good to get on the other side and realize that you can always learn something from these experiences. Realistically there are people and things to be afraid of all over the world not just in Africa and you can either stay home in your warm bed or you can get out and live. At the end of the day there are always more good people than baddies and more than lightness than darkness.

Love,

Wendy

buying day with the women

today we did the buying day with the women, it was very cool to see the whole process go down. the women gathered in the round hut and laid out all of their goods. We had put together a bit of a game plan of what we were planning to buy and then there were four of us picking out and inspecting the jewellery (sometimes the beads are dirty and the quality isn't very good) some of the women were sick and so they sent their daughters. We placed a large order so we can all bring suitcases home filled with jewellery and bags which saves us quite a bit of money in shipping. The whole thing took 4 hrs and it got dark so we had to send the women home (its not safe for them to be out after dark) they are coming back tomorrow for yoga and vitamins so we can pay the rest of them then. I took lots of pics but i'm not able to upload them with this connection - I will post them later.
we all took bodas (motorbikes) home and came home to still no power or water. the power came on a couple hours after we got home and we all cheered - still no water :( (I guess i'll have to wait til I get back to Canada to have a shower??)
tomorrow is my last day here - planning on putting in a full day of painting and doing yoga with the women.
love to you all,
wendy

national lampoons africa

thought we would take a little vacation and go to Jinja to see the nile river and go onto the town to buy some souvenirs. so all 5 of us piled into the car, nics dad is travelling with us (nat and nic are the parents and me kristen and nics dad were the kids!!) we had a good old fashioned road trip complete with funnies and maybe a few squabbles. driving through kampala is like nothing i have ever seen before, all dirt roads, no street signs and overall chaos but an experience nonetheless. when we got to Jinja it was well worth the wait, the view of the nile from our hotel/tent was amazing. We took a boat tour on this old wooden boat, saw lots of interesting birds and also saw where they are building the new damn which will basically wipe out the resort we were staying at. There was also some boys fishing for Tiliapia in the river and there are a lot of people kayaking apparently its some of the best kayaking in the world. It was so hot and the water looked so refreshing I wanted to go for a swim but Nat advised against it, I guess there is a good chance you will pick up a parasite if you swim in it. We stayed in this tent with beds in it and there was a huge storm overnight which was kind of exciting and actually cooled things down. We woke up to find monkeys climbing through the tree and I also enjoyed pineapple/passionfruit smoothies on the deck in the morning.
love to you all,
wendy

muzungo, muzungo, muzungo!

so everywhere we go all the kids run out to the street and yell "hi muzungo, muzungo, bye muzungo, bye muzungo!!!" (muzungo means white tourist or white man) They don't stop until you wave at them, I thought it was kind of cool at first, its kind of like being a celebrity (Angelina if you're reading I know how you feel :) ) What I dont really like about it is they have this look of expectation in their eyes. Nic put it perfectly he says if you are in a good mood it feels like they are cheering you on, if you are in a bad mood it feels like they are heckling you.
I have been painting the outside of the birth house for the last 4 days, 8 hours everyday in the heat is kind of brutal but i'm not complaining people here do it everyday and it feels good to work alongside the Ugandans at the birth house. After all this painting, in the dusty, dirty site it would be nice to have a shower but we haven't had water or power for the last few days, power is out all the time here but its not like it is when the power goes out at home, everyone here just gets on with things, they arent really too dependent on power. I have a whole new appreciation for the water that just comes out of the tap and the light switches that always work at home :)
love to you all,
wendy

a different kind of shopping than what i am used to?

today we went with one of the women (Robina) to purchase all the sewing supplies to get 4 new women set up in our textiles training program. this was my first trip into the big city and i admit i experienced some massive culture shock. we took a matatu into the city a vehicle not much bigger than my minivan but with 17 people crowded into it. We got dropped off in the taxi park and walked through the crowded streets (it was more like a maze than a street) we were the only non ugandans there, it was really noisy and crowded and there was a not so pleasant smell in the air. we purchased everything from buttons, thread, zippers, scissors and fabric. Every store went into we had to sit down and barter to get a good price, it was fun watching the bantering back and forth and i think we got some good deals but who knows?
One thing i hadnt thought about was what we purchased we also had to pack back through the streets to the taxi park. We had probably 200 metres of fabric plus a big roll of foam and all the notions. Needless to say i was a bit exhausted when i got back into the matatu and settled in for the 3 hour ride home.
It was such a great experience and the fabric we picked out is amazing, I can't wait to see the finished back back in canada

savings training for the ladies

I put together some basic savings training for the 28 women in our group, i wasn't sure how it would go not speaking the language and if they would understand what i was talking about. One of our leaders (Yvonne) was my translator, I started by handing out notebooks, the homemade cards that my kids made for them and the solar powered calculator - they loved the cards and the calculators, there was lots of talking and laughter in the group. The training went WAY better than i had hoped for, it was amazing to the wheels turning in their heads when i asked them to write down what they spend their money (expenses) and then how much their monthly income is. then we broke out the calculators and they had to calcute their income less their expenses. this took a very long time, they couldnt figure out how to use the calculators so yvonne had them all work on the same equation until they all got the answer (if you got the worng answer you had to satnd up beside her til you figured it out) I was very impressed with her leadership skills. once we did the calculations one woman asked said "well what if my income is less than my expenses?" to this I said "you are not alone sista, people from all around the world have this same problem every month!"

Then I had them think if what they could save money on, this is what they came up with:

pork

beer

sugar

airtime for their cell phones (cell phones here are very inexpensive)

I then asked what they could to to earn more money and they said they could:

cultivate coffee

farm potatoes

use their beading money to open a restaurant

I was so happy with the way the training went, the women were so receptive and there was lots of laughter. My first blog post was "why am i doing this?" doing stuff like this makes me feel like i'm a good person.

love to you all,

wendy

in uganda

hello friends!

i arrived safely in Uganda late last Saturday night after 24 hours of travelling, it was such a relief to see friendly faces when Natalie, Kristen and Nic picked me up. We stayed at a nice bakcpacker hostel the first night because its not safe to travel at night. Next day we did some shopping in Kampala and drove out to Kasana where the birth house is and where i am staying. Had to get used to sleeping under a mosquito net and i feel like i'm getting into my "cage" every night when i go to bed. We took a boda boda (motor bike) out to the site to see the birth house, had to travel through the bush and when we got there some of the women from our income generating group met us and performed a welcome song and dance. It was an honor to be on the receiving end of this presentation. the ladies got their groove on and they tie a sash around someones waist and then they have to go into the circle and shake their booty, the tie around the waist is to make their booty look bigger - love it! and yes i was a good sport and got up and danced with them when they tied the sash around my waist. I can recall doing this similar dance with my girlfriends in night clubs a few years back!!!

It was amazing to see the progress of the construction on the birth house, I'm so impressed with what Natalie and nic have been able to accomplish in the last few months. Both buildings are up and the roofs are on, there is a large water tank to collect rain water and the workers have dug a huge hole for the septic tank - the whole is 10 ft deep and 10 ft wide, its almost a perfect square and all hand dug. I guess they used up several shovels to dig it!

I'm still getting used to the time change, ive been up at 4 am and then the local mosque starts their morning prayer on the loud speaker at 6 am!!

love to you all,

wendy

what to bring?

People keep asking me if I've started packing? Considering I am leaving tomorrow I must get to it! I've put a lot of thought into what to bring for gifts when I get there, several people have suggested different things, hair clips, elastics and bobby pins are apparently quite popular. I thought about skipping ropes, soccer balls and things for the kids but I realized the kids don't need "stuff" they need the skills so they can make money and buy their own "stuff".
I did however purchase 28 solar powered calculators for the women in our income generating group, I'm going to be teaching them some basic finance workshops, budgeting, marketing and quality. I had the kids make 28 cards to present to the women with the calculators, the cards are all different and the kids wrote each woman's name on every card.
Another thing I am bringing is a microscope so we can test for malaria on site - which is huge. The microscope itself is also huge and heavy and breakable and I'm not quite sure how I will pack it???
If you want to learn more about Shanti Uganda check out our website www.shantiuganda.org
Hopefully the next post will be from Uganda!
Love Wendy

why am i doing this?

as i get closer to leaving for Uganda this Saturday, i'm finding myself asking the question "why am i doing this??" going on a trip like this is way out of my comfort zone and i'm feeling half excited, half terrified!!
in short these are my reasons for the trip:
- i feel like i have to go, i've put so much energy, time and money into this project that i have to see it with my own eyes
- i'm really curious to see the logistics of how everything works over there (shipping the jewellery to canada, seeing how the money that i wire from canada gets picked up on the other side, see how the "buying days" go with the women in the income generating group, all the behind the scenes stuff that i find interesting)
-but the main reason i am going is to help out my friend, i met Natalie while we were doing our yoga teacher training (4yrs ago) and i've watched her take shanti from this very small grass roots organization into what it is today (a much larger organization that creates positive change in many peoples lives both in Uganda and here in Vancouver). she is so clearly following her passion (which i find very inspiring because i seem to flounder around constantly trying to figure out if i am following "my passion") and she always acts with kindness and compassion (i've never really worked with anyone like this before).

Up until now the work that i have done for shanti has been mostly behind the scenes administrative/accounting stuff and event planning so i'm excited to see first hand what all of this work is doing on the ground in Uganda.
thanks for reading,
love wendy