I've been back for some time now and getting used to the American lifestyle, and missing Uganda every waking moment.   I have not posted since my return because I am no longer 'Sarah-in-Africa' but I figured because my heart is still there, I would start posting again.  

The elementary school I am working with in Illinois did a book drive for the children at Sabina and raised so many books to send. Enough for each child at our school in Uganda to have their own book to keep.  Below are some pictures of the books being passed out to the children.  It was an incredibly successful project on both ends.  

Two years ago, I packed my bags full of items I thought I would need for my peace corps adventure. The things I carried with me included my oboe, laptop, music, clothes and random necessities I though I would need. I packed unknowing what was in store for my life. Two days ago, I packed again but this time I stuffed my bags full of gifts received from the amazing people I have grown to love in what now seems to be a very short time. Over the past 2 weeks friends, coworkers, students and parents of students have given me 2 suitcases full of beautiful hats, painting skirts ect. to “remember Uganda.” As if I could forget! In addition, the Sabina staff threw me a surprise-going-away party which included so much food made by all of the aunties and dancing until I though my feet would fall off. They even prepared luwombo, a dish only used on the most special of occasions. Yesterday, as the kids sang and said their goodbyes, I wept with them as they were into their 4th song only a few kids were still able to sing as the rest had succumbed to sobbing. Before moving to Ssanje, Uganda, I have never before felt such acceptance into a community of people despite being such an obvious outsider (white skin?). The people of Sabina and Ssanje have warmly welcomed me into their homes through hospitality unmatched anywhere in the world. I know it is time to come home but I will miss Uganda forever. The constant perfect 80 degree weather, the abundance of fresh fruit, the monkeys and the beautiful people will of course be missed as I walk through Chicago in freezing weather. As Jon Kabat-Zinn sad, “Where you go is where you are,” and I will be happy where I will be living with my old roommates from college, living near my family and friends, being around for important events, but I’m still not sure if I will ever be able to readjust to the cold. Freezing is possibly one of my worst fears now. If freezing is the worst, then I guess I’ll be okay. I just might wear 3 coats at the same time for a while. It’s been a hard two years, although ‘hard’ does not begin to describe the challenges I have faced here, but I guess what they say is true, Peace Corps is “the toughest job you’ll ever love!”

Before I come home, my friend Hannah and I are stopping to tour Egypt, Jordan and Israel for a month and will arrive state side for Christmas and Becca and Jason’s wedding. I do still hope it’s okay with them if I wear a parka over my bridesmaid dress. This will probably will be my last blog from Uganda so I will leave you with some more pictures. Thanks again for all of your wonderful support through this crazy adventure.

Nkwagala nnyo!

One last hike to Katanjovu, a local hill/mountain with some of the students (i'm the white girl)

Machue and Teddy reading in the library.

Peter, our librarian teaching students in the library.

Playing volleyball at my going away party with some Sabina staff members.

Dancing the night away at my party with Sabina teachers.

Here are a couple of pictures of the now fully completed library. The walls are painted, the 5000+ books are all labeled, categorized and catalogued, and the building is ready for learning. The grand opening will happen tomorrow and we are excitedly getting ready. We have invited district officials, teachers from Sabina and the other schools in the area and some community members to the opening to make them aware of the library and present the programs we will be offering to them. Our committee for the library has now met 5 times and all of the members are so enthusiastic about the library and creating great programs for the students here as well as the community. Their enthusiasm and dedication have made me so sure that the library will be put to the best use possible. If I do have to leave (and I do) it’s so good to know that the library will be in great hands. Also, Amy, our new Peace Corps Volunteer who is replacing me, is already passionate about starting programs for the community.

The final countdown to my departure has begun; I’m only left with 13 days which is harder to believe than anything. I can’t believe that I have made it all the way to the end! I’m trying to take time to say good bye to everyone before I go. Yesterday, one of my women’s groups I have been working with organized a goodbye party for me. They sang and danced for 3 hours and I was tearful the entire time. They kept thanking me for everything I have done for them, but I couldn’t make them realize that it was I that should be grateful for what they have done for me.

Hope you are all well, and I’ll see you soon!

I’m typing this entry from Ssanje village inside the library and I will post it within minutes because we now have internet access. Yes folks, internet in the village. Because COU is an international organization we are in constant communication with the head office in Kampala as well as the COU headquarters in the states. This means we were having to go to Kyotera (25km crowded car ride away) to try to find internet. I say try because after you cram your self into a tiny car with approximately 10 other people you most often times arrive when the power is off or the internet is not working. If it does work, you have to pay so much money to use the very slow internet. This resulted in much money, time and energy being spent in traveling back and forth all the time. The solution was to bring the net here! Currently it is just for COU employees but further along we will be able to offer it at a rate to community members along with the potential for computer classes. For now it is saving us so much time and even money! This new development is so exciting for all involved, especially the kids who love to look up information through good search or on wikipedia. The world wide web has just become even wider. All the way to the village.

The library with solar power and a very long antenna for recieving internet!

tarzan, swining on a rubber band!

Becca E. and me at the nile...at least we are not in de-nile!

Becca Evans came to visit what seems like just days ago, but as I am writing this blog I am now realising that she has actually been gone for a long time. She was able to come visit for 3 weeks at the begining of August and we had so much fun enjoying spending time with the amazing Children of Uganda students, running around Uganda seeing warthogs, swinging on vines, climbing trees, sleeping next to hippos....the list could go on for 5 pages! Her time here was so much fun and really reminded me yet again how incredibly blessed I have been to have so many wonderful family and friends, or friends and family or just family as my friends are my family and my family are my friends. :-) To have my family and two Beccas come visit has meant more than I can possibly even begin to describe. All my other "support staff" sending letters and packages have been equally brilliant and absolutely wonderful. I know maybe I have said it before, but I love you all so much! Thanks for everything!

We have been so busy these days at COU with all the new projects. One of the most exciting things for me is that we are very close to being ready to open the Library, or the Ssanje Community Resource Center which is the official name. The solar system is running beautifully and the children are studying every night in the space. The shipment of books arrived in Ssanje last week and we have been sorting, catologuing and shelving all of the books. The books were donated by a wonderful church in Washington DC. Most books were novels, but they also sent so many valuable reference books. With the money we have left over from the budget of building the library we are going to buy books printed in Luganda and Swahili so the children can read in their original languages.

I have been painting the walls with educational and fun murals with the help of some older students.

A semi-to-scale map of the solar system behind the massive amount of books we now have:A giant map of the world:

"The giving tree" the leaves are names of people and organizations that gave to the library, zoon in and try to find your name!

Sash, another PCV's creation inspired by one of my favorite books:

When we were finished, we had a lot of paint left so we decided to redo some very old dirty paintings on the walls of Sabina and make fresh new paintings which represented COUs missions

AIDS awarness and care, a design colaboration between staff and visitors: This one is designed by Mugalula, a COU seconday student, and is his representation of the importance of protecting our environment: We also put up a few fun pictures. The one below depicting the Ugandan Crane was done by visitors to COU. The gates to the home:

Thats all I have time for today. Love you all!

Enjoy the day!

As promised, here are some more photos from Kenya, sorry it took so long, but as always, slow Internet.

Our trip started out with a very long overnight bus ride to Nairobi where we got to stay with one of Hannah's friends. We stayed there for two days, and we were constantly surprised by the amount of development in the city. They had street lights everywhere and actual malls with stores resembling Barns and Nobel and even Starbucks! My favorite part was when we got to go to the zoo and pet a cheetah! I was only slightly terrified that he would want to eat my hand for lunch.

After Nairobi our group headed to Mombasa for one day where we toured Fort Jesus located on the coast.

The Mombasa harbor In stead of using motorcycles the main mode of transport here was the tuk-tuk, so much fun! See small yellow vehicle in picture below beside Hannah and Courtney. Fort Jesus is a Portuguese fort built in 1590 by order of King Philip II of Spain (King Philip I of Portugal), then ruler of the joint Portuguese and Spanish Kingdoms, located on Mombasa Island to guard the Old Port of Mombasa, Kenya. The fort was built in the shape of a man, most likely Jesus, hence the name. The people building thought the shape out help them to protect themselves more. Outside of the fort....and Courtney and I inside the fort pretending to be guards, you know you would be scared of us! We then headed up the cost to the Gede ruins just north of Mombasa. Gede is an ancient, mysterious place which has no record of existing in history except for the ruins of the old castles. It was suspected that it was a place which the elite of Kenya went to hide away, mafia perhaps? Estimated to be built in the 13th century, their palace was complete with running water. Something my village in Uganda doesn't even have today. Below is Hannah and I at the old entrance to Gede.

One of my favorite parts of Kenya were the boboa trees which were giant and everywhere.

After Gede we went further north to the cost where we were met by our lovely friend, Abdala who brought his boat to drive us to the island of Lamu. Abdala is the cousin of the brother-in-law to professor Gearhart, a professor I had at IWU. He showed us around the beautiful island and introduced us to his friends. Because it has been used as a trading island, it has become a wonderful mix of Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic and Swahili cultures all together in a beautiful mixture. The island is rich in stunning art work with exquisit detail like the door in the picture below. Traditionally, the Swahili culture takes pride in their entryways to their homes and most people make intricate carvings for all of their doors. Besides the wonderful people and places, the food was also increadable, I had forgotten how much I love seafood. Also, at almost every meal we enjoyed delicious juices (mango, papaya, coconut, pineapple, avocado ect.) We thought that transport could not be any better than the tuk-tuks in Mombasa, but we were wrong as the main mode of transport on Lamu was......donkeys! They only have 3 vehicles on the whole island and everyone else gets around on donkeys.

We spent a week on this amazing island enjoying the ocean, food and friendly locals. Abdala had us over to his house one night for a crab feast where we got to meet Dr. Gearhart's lovely family.

(Dr. Gehart's brother in law and wife , me, Courtney, Catherine, Hannah and Abdala) We spent one whole day in the best way possible, on a sail boat. They have dows you can rent for the day complete with an amazing crew and we even got to go fishing! Don't be to jealous Dad, we didn't catch anything. Pinto our captain let me help pull in the anchor! Lisandro and I on the boat enjoying the water. We sadly had to leave, but I know one day I will go back to Lamu. If anyone wants to go, just let me know and I will tag along.

Jambo, Jambo mwana, hakuna matata!

I'm writting this to you after a 24 hour bus ride from Mombasa to Kampala. Am I grumpy from the long hours being squished on a stinky, and very cold bus? Nope! Thats because I finally got to go to Kenya! I have been trying for so long to make it to the island of Lamu, as many of you remember I was going to go with a course during my days at IWU but the trip got cancelled 3 times so I decided that since I'm living in Uganda I had better make it to Lamu once and for all. I went with Hannah, Courtney, Lisandro (other PCVs in Uganda) and Cathrine (Lisandro's friend from home). We stopped in Narobi,then Mombasa and spent most of our time on Lamu an island off the northern coast of Kenya. The island completely surpassed my expectations. It was more than beautiful with it's sandy beaches, over friendly residents and with the main mode of transport being donkeys, how could you not love it? I promise to write more later and post more pictures, but for now I need to go get ready to go pick up Becca Evans from the airport!!! Thats right, another visitor! Yipee!

Me on the beach at Lamu on the Indian Ocean.

Our last night on Lamu we had a happy birthday to me celebration dinner of crab, lobster and fish on the beach.

These days we are facing rather imposing and terrifying world problems: peak oil, global warming and ozone layer destruction. This is only a beginning of a list that could continue for miles. Endless problems that seem to be heading towards inevitably grim outcomes which often times causes us to stick our head in the ground, feeling hopeless to make any difference. Along side of providing care and education for orphans and vulnerable children in Uganda, COU is stepping up to the plate to begin combat against the incoming and present food crisis. For the past three weeks the staff at COU have been making plans with the guidance of expert permaculturist, Rosemary Morrow towards ways to improve our land by increasing food production and decreasing waste. This program was brought to COU by one of our fabulous board members, Jan Smart who had the vi son to make a huge difference in the way we use our land. I am so ecstatic with the opportunity this has brought to the home. The children are learning how to reduce our waste and how to separate that which they do create, better water conservation and a better method of farming the land. Already Sabina Home is running on solar power and without showers and washing machines there is not a lot of water wastage. The biggest problem we face is littering and pollution through burning of black plastic bags which seems to be ubiquitous to Uganda. The children at Sabina (and myself) are buzzing with excitement of the new trash bins which they use to separate organics from plastics. They scold each other when waste is put in the wrong container and delightful continue to as questions about what is organic material. Vegetable gardens are being planted in a small part of the 106 acres that belong to Sabina Home. Other plans for the land include; planting fruit trees, starting cassava plantations and even possibly creating a land conservation area which will provide a home to indigenous animals and plants as well as to provide and educational spot for many students. The goal behind planting all the food is to improve the nutrition of the children in the program and to reduce the budget we have to allocate to feeding of so many. If all goes well we will be able to feed all children and staff of the land we have. Mpola mpola (slowly by slowly) we are coming up with long term, environmentally friendly solutions to a few of the new problems. This program has already made lasting, positive changes in the home. These are exciting times!

To see our permaculture blog please go to www.childrenofuganda-permaculture.blogspot.com

Quick update: The library is coming along great! We just got the solar lighting installed which means the kids are now able to study at night!!!! We are still awaiting the arrival of the books and finishing up details on the painting and then we will open! (wow, that was an extreme use of exclamation marks, sorry!) I promise to post photos later.

Love!

PS. Happy (early) Birthday, Mom!!! Love you!

A flower I found by my house, bonus points to anyone who can identify it for me. Six months! I only have six months left in Uganda! It seems surreal to think that I am already 3/4ths done with my time with Children of Uganda. I’m still so glad to be back in Rakai, the clean air, the friendly people, the kids, people who know my name instead of just ‘muzungu’ life just seems so much better here. I know that I am always writing about how wonderful the people are here don’t think that I’m blind to the problems. Uganda, like anywhere in the world, has many cultural and governmental problems. The worst of which centers around corruption. Instead of dwelling on tose problems I try to think about how amazing so many other things are. One of the most greatest things that I have found here is the incredible hospitality of the people. Every time I walk through town I get approximately 8 offers to eat food. I walk along the road and hear people call to me “jangu, tulye!” (you come, we eat!). Usually I have to pass up these generous offers as I am pressed for time or already full of the giant amount of food that has already been served to me. On the few occasions I take time to eat with my friends, the conversations had and bonds formed are always bountiful. It’s inconceivable how they can offer me (someone who to them seems to be incredibly rich) so much of their own food. This is a habit I want to bring back with me when I come home, although I think that people might think I’m a bit crazy if I’m sitting on my front porch and yell to a complete stranger that they should come and eat my food. My activities recently are just the same as always. I’ve been spending a lot of time in the library trying to paint some murals with the help of other PCVs and our older students we have done a map of the solar system, the world and a few fun art murals. Still doing home visits everynow and then and odd jobs here and there to help out COU in anyway that I can.(me and a super cute baby I met during a home visitation) In my spare time I still find that my best Ugandan friends are the kids who are ALWAYS at my house. I'm trying to turn a few into guitarists....This is a picture of my attempts at becoming a master chef. Far from master, but at least I can kind of cook things that don't come out of a box! Lisandro and I made homemade pizza on my stove! It actually tasted great, and no one got sick from food poisoning!I’m running out of internet time (as always) so I’ll say….

HAVE A SUPER DAY!

Love you!

ATTN ALL!

In hopes to have better network in my village I'm switching my number, again. Please find the number listed on the right.

Q: What does this mean for you?

A: You should call me! :-)

Peace!

I moved back to Rakai last weekend with the help of Lisandro and was enthusiastically greeted by my neighbors, townspeople and children. We spent the weekend baking and, with the help of some of our COU students, prepared a multi-course-thank you meal for Debora (COU Rakai home administrator), Father Edwards and Father Jaja (the two priests I live with). To bake here you have to fashion a 'Dutch oven' from three pans placing three stones on the bottom of one giant pan with your batter in a smaller pan and the remaining big pan on top creating a seal and a space for the warm air to move around. You place it on top of a charcoal stove and as long as you can keep the fire lit, you have a make-shift oven.

We also got to spend some time washing the walls and windows of the library to get it ready for painting. We were assisted by professional washers, COU students Rita, Gorretti, Daisy and Agnes.

but then we had to stop and take a break for a little bakasimba (traditional Ugandan dancing)

Agness loved my emergency rain poncho and of course some silly picture time...

Doing building work is really one of my most favorite activities. There is something so satisfying about seeing the work done when you are finished. This is in opposition to the results you get from other work that is not always visible ie. teaching, learning, playing your instrument. Don’t get me wrong, teaching is very rewarding, as is performing, but it is just nice to every so often be able to step back and say, ‘yes, I painted that whole wall!’

Sash, another PCV who is an amazing artist is going to come over next week to help me paint a giant world map and some of our vocational students are already working on designs for some big murals. Will keep you posted on the progress.

Love and peace!

Hello! Things are quite busy as I am trying to finish wrapping up some projects here in the head office before I head back to the village on Friday. Yes, that’s right folks; I’m going back to Rakai! The new Country Director for COU is in the office and is absolutely fabulous. She has so much potential and I just know she will help COU in so many ways. When I get back to Rakai I will begin to help paint the newly finished library and then organize and get it ready for use. The opening date is now estimated to be June 1st. I can hardly wait to see this project come through to completion. Then begins the exciting business of starting the book clubs, reading projects, and English and literacy classes.

This past week I got the pleasure of going to visit another PCV in Uganda. One of my most favorite things to do on the weekends is to go visit other volunteers around the country. Seeing the way they live, what they are doing and just having fun commiserating about our challenges. I’ve gotten to visit all the girls in my group a few times each and a few other volunteers from the other groups. As always in life, it is good to see that other people are struggling with the same things you are. It gives you perspective and ideas on how to cope with your own problems. Also, finding humor in the challenges makes your heart feel so much better about everything. I mean, I have always known this, but it’s just good to realize life lessons over and over again.

The downfall of returning to Rakai is that I will not have internet, electricity or toilets. All of these things are okay with me; just don’t expect me to reply quickly to e-mails. Also, packages and letters can be sent to the old address in Kyotera.

Take care and keep me updated on your lives.

Peace and love!

Sarah

Even after one and a half years of living in Uganda, I still find it a challenge to do my wash by hand. I scrub, and scrub, and scrub and the clothes still don't seem to get very clean. When I was living in Rakai, I would do my wash every Sunday accompanied by a group of girls from our primary school. We put on music and have a rocking time dancing and washing. I try to chose a different group of kids each time and am often bombarded with requests to be chosen to help me come clean. Kids here love to clean and because they do, the average Ugandan can do their laundry approximately 100 times faster than I can even attempt to do. Despite my lack of talent in this task, I find myself enjoying the ever present task of scrubbing my clothes. You use far less water and the only energy you waste is your own.

The other day, Melody (a volunteer from Canada) and I brought our clothes outside to begin washing. We were preparing ourselves for a couple of hours of work ahead of us.Almost before we could get the buckets in place to begin, four of our COU high school boys came over and demanded that they could help us. Thats right, highschool boys, demanding to help, without being asked!

Serenjerogi rocking the washing.

We tried to tell them that we were very capable and could do our wash, but they insisted, so we had no choice but to permit them to help.

The wash was done in under an hour and we had a blast trying to help the boys as they made our clothes smell as fresh as the day we bought them.

Melody looks on as the boys show us how it's done (really, we did do some work!)

It's days like this that I find myself absolutely loving life here. Not because I didn't have to do much work, but because of the kindness the boys showed us. It is yet another example of how service to others seems to shine through in so many people here :-)

Since I am able to get so much internet these days I thought I would post some more random photos:

Sabina School, P4 class

Goretti, me, Flavia and Bena listening to music.

Lisandro and his very curious neighborhood kids.

Till next time! Happy end of April!

Love and peace,

Sarah

Our PC group, Nov06 Swearing in Ceremony at the Ambassadors HouseAmanda, Hannah, Brett, Courtney, Me, ChristinaTiffany, Erin, Alexis, Jess, Nora, Carrie May

This blog is a tribute to my Sep06Uganda group. Peace corps is a job unlike any other. You apply not knowing which country you will be going to. You go to the country not knowing what kind of organization you will be working with. You go to work at your organization and are usually the only American for a radius that always seems just a bit to big. They say it is the toughest job you will ever love. Toughest is a light word… We struggle against/with cultural differences. We combat worms and intestinal parasites. We spend a lot of our time camped on public transport, twisting our bodies into shapes we never thought possible all for the cause of fitting that extra goat or chicken into the already crowded car. Yet, most of the time, we love the job because of so many reasons. When I came to Uganda in September 2006, I came with a group of 12 extraordinarily strong women. We are now a group of 7 as some have decided to leave the Peace Corps and return to America. First Nora, then Alexis, Carrie May, Tiffany and most recently, Jess who left Uganda for various reasons, but will never leave our hearts, nor the heart of the communities they worked with! They have given so much to their organizations, their communities, Uganda and to me. Their positive (and sometimes, but as equally appreciated sarcastic and realistic) attitude has helped me get through on so many occasions. We have grown so, so much together: two months of training, learning how to ride bikes in skirts (Alexis), learning how to use the impossibly small facilities (Nora), learning how be alone and still have ‘fun’ (Carrie May), learning how to be okay with talking to the lizards (Tiffany), learning how to open bottles with out a cork screw (Jess) the list could continue for miles. They will forever be part of our small, but mighty PC group and part of my heart. I love you girls, get ready for visits from me in the states starting January 2009!

So, I may be a little behind on wishing you all a very Happy Easter, but I am in Uganda and am getting very ‘used’ to running on ‘African’ time. Also, we have been soooo busy here. By here, I mean Kampala. I am still living at Kiwanga helping out in the head office for COU. This will probably be until mid May when I will head back to Rakai. Perks of this is electricity and……..INTERNET! We have internet in our offices so I now have access to intermittent (and very slow) internet. At least it is internet. I’m sure not complaining! So yes, this means you can all send me tons of e-mails with lots of details on your lives (hint, hint) until May when I shall return to Rakai and the land of no internet.

Easter flew by but I did take time to stop and dye some Easter eggs with the residence of Philip’s House which was a blast. Philip’s Home is a part of the COU program which provides children who have physical and learning disabilities with shelter, food, care and education. Many thanks to my Grandma Norma who sent some Easter Egg Dye! Side note: thanks so much to everyone for all the packages and letters. I am still astonished by the love I see from everyone and can’t mention it enough. I have never stopped to think about the yearly ritual of dropping eggs into colored dye, but after trying to explain it to the kids here I realized how silly it seems to someone from an non-easter-egg-dying-culture. None the less, I still love this tradition and the kids all had a great time.

This past weekend COU got the opportunity to participate in the first “Festival of Hope,” an event held at the Sheraton hotel in Kampala. The office staff has been very busy in preparation for this but it paid off as we were able to make very many useful contacts. The dance troupe got a chance to perform and they did so well! I am still constantly amazed by their ability to always pull of stunning performances. I, on the other hand, am still trying to learn how to shake my body. My teacher (the children) are great, but my coordination, I am afraid will never allow me to become a professional bakasimba-er.

That’s alllllllllllllll for now folks! Have a super day!

A few old I thought I should post

Kids at Sabina

Becca Marsh and crew came in January to help with the construction of our library.

To anyone who is still checking the blog, my apologies for the very long delay in updating. We have been so very busy in the head office of CoU that I have hardly had time to think about things other than schools, children, paying salaries and databases. As I mentioned in the last blog, I have temporally relocated to Seeta (15 km east of Kampala) living and working in Kiwanga, CoU’s other home. The Children of Uganda’s head office is now located there and I am helping out in this time of transition. Things are going well and I am very optimistic about the changes this organization is undergoing. Once the changes are complete, I know that it will create a better environment and better learning opportunities for the children. Not that things were bad before, but as time moves forward, so is required of every organization. I’m doing many activities to try to help CoU some of these include: organizing letters to sponsors, updating our database of children’s histories, finding schools for secondary students to attend, running around Kampala looking for a number of things, today it was papers to apply for tax exemption. Like I mentioned before, I am missing my village, but really, really, really enjoying the intermittent electricity. I will be staying in Kiwanga until mid May and then back to the Rakai home to finish out my service, which is done in November. I’m planning a trip with a couple of other PCVs to see some of the seven wonders of the world before I arrive home but we hope to back state side by December 23rd, just in time for Christmas! I have no doubt that I will have plenty of things to keep my very busy until then. Opening the library will take a lot of work, but will be very much worth it. I am so excited for it to be complete. Then I have a visit in August from the amazing Becca Evans, so I’m sure time will fly. Last week, I got the fantastic opportunity to travel to Rakai to stay at my home for 4 whole days! We are preparing for a visit from a team of doctors from Baylor and so I had to go organize the files for every child in our program at the home in Rakai. While this is not the most exciting work, I enjoyed every minute of my time. I was a bit nervous that the people in my village would have forgotten about me and would have reverted to calling me a muzungu again. I have been away for a month and co-workers at Sabina home have told me that the people in the community thought I had gone back to the states. I was so relieved when I was greeted by the people and small children with shouts of, ‘aunti salah’ (that’s how they pronounce my name), ngo buzze, kudi kayo! (you have been lost, welcome back). Even all the taxi drivers in Kyotera, a town 30 km away from my village, remembered who I was and where I stay. When I arrived at Sabina home, I was dog-piled by 50 very excited children who all tried to jump into my arms at the same time. As painful as this was, I didn’t feel the bruises until hours later as I was so happy to be ‘home.’ The children all send their greetings and love to everyone in America. I hope you are all well and enjoying what I hope will soon be spring. Its still consistently, amazingly warm here. I guess that’s what you get for living on the equator. Love and peace!Sarah :-)

Hey everyone! I am temporarly moving to Children of Uganda's Kiwanga Home in Mukono to move there to live and work for a couple of months, so I will now be very close to Kampala (and very far away from Rakai) until May. I am struggling to be so far away from my ‘children’ in Rakai, but loving the electricity. We are so busy in the office, but I know (hope) all the hard work will pay off soon. Because I am far from Rakai, if you want to send letters or packages between now and May you should send them to:

Sarah Cowan, PCV

PO BOX 27613

Kampala, Uganda

I hope you are all well! Take care.

This is a story of one of the 667 students sponsored by Children of Uganda. She wrote this herself to share with you.

“My name is Mariah I am 15 yrs old, I study at Wits College Namulanda. I finished my primary level at Mother Kevin Primary School in Mukono district. I am now gone to S.4

a candidate class and I hope to get a first grade. I came to Children of Uganda when I was 5 years old after both of my parents had died of AIDS, I did not understand why life was like this. But now when I am with Children of Uganda I am okay. I love Children of Uganda because it has provided school fees and requirements for me and I am receiving love from Children of Uganda. I now have many brothers, sister, aunties and uncles here at COU. I hope to graduate from Secondary School and go onto university to become a journalist.”

COU takes on the awesome responsibility of caring for orphans and vulnerable children through providing school fees, living requirements and most importantly, love. These children would not otherwise have the opportunity to study. They would not have the opportunity to become what they want to be. To no fault of their own they have been left less fortunate than many. COU needs your help in order to care for these amazing children. They have a sponsorship program where you can be paired with a child and your money will go to putting that child through school. COU also accepts straight donations. If you are interested in sponsoring a child, please go to http://www.childrenofuganda.org/ or if you want to give a donation please do so at the same website, or you can donate through the facebook group. Every little bit counts. No gift is too small. I have compiled a list of items COU purchases every term (except for items marked with a * which are a one time purchase) for each student to show you how far a little bit can go.

Daily Living Requirements

Item- Cost to Buy in Uganda - Amount in US Dollars

Toothpaste: 1000 Ush - $ 0.58

Soap for Bathing: 1000 Ush - $0.58

Soap for Washing: 1000 Ush - $0.58

Vaseline: 2000 Ush - $1.17

Sanitary towels: 2000 Ush - $1.17

Shoes: 15,000 Ush - $8.82

Shoe polish: 2000 Ush - $0.58

Shoe brush: 1000 Ush - $0.58

Razor: 1000 Ush - $0.58

Suit cases*: 20,000 Ush - $11.76

Bed sheets*: 20,000 Ush - $11.76

Blankets*: 15,000 Ush - $8.82

Mosquito net*: 35,000 Ush - $20.58

Mattress*: 40,000 Ush - $23.50

Scholastic materials for secondary school children

School Uniform: 40,000Ush - $23.53

Books: 4000 Ush x 4 - $0.41

Black books: 2000 Ush - $0.58

Calculator: 30,000 Ush - $17.65

Graph books: 1500 Ush - $0.88

Reams of paper: 8000 Ush - $2.05

File: 3500 Ush - $2.06

Text books: 15,000- 30,000 Ush - $8.82 - $17.65

Pens: 200 Ush x 4 - $0.47

Pencils: 100 Ush x 4 - $0.24

Scholastic material for primary school children

School uniform: 15000 Ush - $8.82

Exercise books: 4000 Ush x 12 - $28.24

Pens: 200 Ush x 4 - $0.47

Mathematic sets: 1200 Ush - $0.70

Pencils: 100 Ush x 4 - $0.24

So, $10.00 can buy 166 pencils.

$20.00 can buy 9 exercise books.

$50.00 can buy 6 text books.

$100.00 can buy 12 school uniforms.

One by one, we can change the world!!!

Cowan family at the source of da nile. This past month I have been very blessed to receive many visitors. My mom, dad and sister came to Uganda in December followed by Becca M. and 4 of her friends in January. They spent many days at my village as well as touring around Uganda and seeing the sites. It was my first time to try my hand at being a tour guide and although challenging, it turned out to be quite fun. The trip was quite the role reversal as my parents are usually the one with all the money, car keys and decision making power but as this is now ‘my home’ I was the one taking the responsibility. It is wonderful to be able to share this experience with loved ones from home. They can attest to the truth in my stories of Uganda that may seem outlandish to those who have not traveled here. They climbed into a small car with 10 other people and 5 chickens. They went to meetings starting 5 hours late. They ate the rice and beans and lived without a real toilet or washing machine. It was a rockin good time, and I miss them so much already. I think that you should all come visit, Uganda is not that far away. Haha, but seriously, anyone is welcome to Enyumba wa Sarah and experience Uganda through the Sarah Tour Guide Company.

I would like to share with you a story about fate, or perhaps coincidence. Which one it is, you can decide.

A long, long time ago, I was in third grade at Empire School. Our school choir performed two songs in Showtime, and if you are from Freeport, you know what a big deal this can be to a third grader. Showtime is an annual Freeport tradition of song and dance lead by Jeff Lehman, the choral director at the High School. Sparkles and lights adorn the event and tickets always sell out so it is about the closest thing to stardom in the little town of Freeport. So you can imagine, as a third grader, you feel like pretty big stuff performing up on stage for so many people. We were to perform a song that we had to sing in two languages, one was English and one was a language none of us knew. We were told the foreign words matched the meaning of the words in English:

One thing I know,

Everybody has a seed to sow.

Let your heart of hearts take you down the road,

Everybody has a seed to sow.

This song became stuck in my head for many years. As I become older, the song became very meaningful to me. It became an inspiration to me to find out what my ‘seeds’ were and where I should ‘sow’ them. Eventually, the song stopped playing on repeat in my head and I had almost forgotten about the tune until a few months ago when I received phone call from my parents. My father started the conversation by telling me that I would never guess what song they sang again at Showtime this year. He said it was the song about seeds and then sang (or attempted to sing) part of it for me. It was the same song that I had sung so many years ago. Once again I found myself frequently humming the tune. I was singing the song, trying to remember what the foreign words were and was surprised when the ones I could remember sounded a lot like Luganda. Luganda is the language they speak in the Buganda region of Uganda and it is also the language I am trying to learn, so I thought perhaps I was just putting in new words. About a week later I was at the orphanage cutting pineapples singing the song when one of our university students stopped me and asked how I knew the song. I told her the story and she starting laughing because it is, indeed, a song in Luganda:

Kimu kimanyi,

Buli muntu twasiga ensigo.

Omutima gwo wa gulu ngamye,

Buli muntu twasiga ensigo.

If you are unfamiliar with Peace Corps, when you apply to become a volunteer they can place you anywhere in the world. For me, they chose Uganda, and I ended up living the Buganda region. I think that Luganda is probably spoken by 0.6% of people in the world. So to me, having a song be my theme song growing up, and to then have it become part of my life as a grown up is a very moving realization. Much more than coincidence, it shows me that my entire life has led me here to this moment. Just another piece of evidence, that we are all part of a grand design.

Except for the university students, most of the kids here didn’t know the song so I got to teach them something in Luganda which everyone found very surprising and humorous. This is a video of my third and fourth grade students singing the song.

One year! Can you believe it??? I’ve been at my sight working with Children of Uganda as a PCV for one year! That means I have one year left. 365 days to complete my service then I’ll be back home. At this milestone in my service, I have been taking time for reflection on the year past and the year to come. Trying to recap a years worth of moments is a daunting task, especially when it has been a year like this one. When attempting to sum it up I think that Jonathan Larson got it right when he taught us all that the only way you can measure a year is in love. Love from my support staff aka my family, friends and community in America through letters, phone calls, and delicious packages. Love from my host family who still sends me text messages to see how their “daughter” is doing. Love from the community members in my village through their smiling faces and endless greetings. Love from all of the children I work with. They really just ooze love. I’m not sure if it is actually possible to ooze love, but if it is, these kids can do it. They ooze it always and it inspires me every single day to try and be the same way. All of this love has kept me here. Why else would I leave the comfort of my home, leave my job and living/house situation in the hands of others, leave my family and friends? The answer, love. And maybe stubbornness. Hopefully it’s the former rather than the latter.

Even with all this inspirational love and signs from God, this is still the hardest thing I have ever done. I still miss America, snow, good food and you all like crazy! So keep up the calls and letters, please!

Love, love, love you!

So many things to tell you about and so little time….

We will start with the good. Library funding is complete! Thanks to all of you, we have surpassed the goal and will even have extra to put towards building upkeep. The building is going up and is looking fantastic. I promise to keep you updated as it is built and will send pictures when it opens. Thank you is not enough express my and the children’s gratitude to everyone who gave or helped to raise money.

Last Saturday, I organized a HIV/AIDS awareness and testing day in my village of Ssanje. They have never done something like this before in my community so it was a bit nerve-racking planning such an event. There is a lot of negative stigma here associated with HIV so we weren’t sure if anyone would come to get tested. We had a post test club (group of people living with HIV/AIDS) drama group some to perform songs and a drama about getting tested followed by whole day of free HIV/AIDS testing. The day was sponsored by a great friend of COU, Mike Oppenshaw. We ended up having a great turn out, about 300 people showed up to see the drama (see picture). The stage was made by some pieces of material and poles stuck into the ground, but the message was great and I believe it was a success. There were 65 people who tested, which maybe doesn’t seem like a lot to you, but for a village where testing is looked down upon and feared by so many, this is a great number. Some people I work with in Ssanje were estimating that perhaps 10 would show up to get tested. So 65, not to shabby.

A very bright note is that I got a light bulb in my house!!!!!!!! One fabulous, bright, illuminating light bulb. It was put in two days ago and already has made such a difference in my life. The priests I live with put a solar panel on their house and asked if I would like a light for my room. Would I like a light bulb. HAHAHA, YES! In the midst of a country that is struggling to find development, and working with an organization that is struggling to keep going, a light may be rather insignificant, but it has brought me so much joy.

Children of Uganda is going through some major changes right now. The children are in need of all of your help financially. COU is providing loving care for over 700 orphans and vulnerable children. There are so many children who depend on us to provide necessities for life as well as love for their souls. Please go to www.childrenofuganda.org to donate if you feel inspired to do so.

I hope you are all well.

Love, love, love,

Sarah

Children dancing along with the songs about HIV/AIDS at the testing day.

to cool for school, a kid who showed up to the drama performance was fascinated with my sunglasses.

Yesterday marked our one year in country mark and celebrated it in Uganda. 12 months down, 14 to go. We just got back from vacation to Rwanda. Some of you might be thinking, but Sarah, didn’t you just go on a vacation to the US? Yes, yes I did. However, when you are from American and try to live in a “developing nation” you need breaks! Also, we wanted to celebrate our anniversary of being in Uganda and of course, to see Rwanda! Rwanda is a fascinating and inspiring nation. I want to share my experiences there with you, so here is my attempt to put down in written word out experiences. First, I feel it is necessary to share with you a little bit of the history of Rwanda, primarily focusing on the genocide. While the genocide is not the most important thing about Rwanda, it is so important to know about.

“When they said ‘never again’ after the holocaust, was it meant for some and not others?”

-Apollon Kabahizi, in reference to the Genocide in Rwanda.

1994, Rwanda was torn apart when the Hutus attacked the Tutsis. What caused this to happen, no one is exactly sure, but I will share what I learned at the National Memorial in Kigali and in talking to the Rwandans. When the Belgium came to Rwanda in the early 1900’s, they brought many great things; improved science, education, roads and health. However, they also helped increase the divide between the Hutus and Tutsis. They grouped all Rwandans into Tutsi vs. Hutu by the number of cows a family owned. More than 10 and you became a Tutsi, less than 10, a Hutu. They made identity cards and made it a requirement for every Rwandan to carry them around. They then gave power to the minority Tutsis. This ignited a spark in the Hutu people. They began to resent the Tutsis and envy their power. Fueled by propaganda spread through a local radio station RTLM, the genocide exploded on April 6, 1994 after the death of the ten president, Juvenal Habyarimana. The Hutu men, women, children, and in some cases even nuns and priests, took up guns and machetes. They had one goal in mind, ethnic cleansing. They wanted to get rid of all of the Tutsis. The UN pulled out of Rwanda and the rest of the world turned their back with almost 1 million Tutsi and Tutsi sympathizers were killed. The RPF (Rwanda Patriotic Front) led by Paul Kagame finally succeed in regaining power. The UN came back dn red cross also stepped in to set up refugee camps. It was to late, as the Genocide was already over.

Today, 13 years after, you would hardly know of the terror that shook the small nation. The streets of Kigali are so clean and the people so warm and inviting. The only give away that something happened are the memorials set up in almost every village and the weariness in the faces of the people. After peace was restored, a survivor, Yolande Mukagasana said, “There will be no humanity with out forgiveness. There will be no forgiveness without justice. But justice will be impossible without humanity.” They have worked so hard to turn their country around and have greatly succeeded. They take care of their land and buildings better than any other country I have seen. They even have a holiday ever last Saturday of the month just for cleaning. Once a month, the whole country shuts down and no one can do any work except to clean their homes and town! I love that!

Rwanda is called “the land of 1000 hills, but really, it seams as if there are 10,000. The whole country is hills. I was sitting next to a Rwandan who had never been outside his country and it was so hard for him to believe me when I told him there were places that don’t have any hills at all.

We spent eight wonderful days doing all sorts of tourist stuff. We went to the National Memorial, the Butare National Museum, Nyamata church (where 10,000 were killed while hiding under the promise of safety from their priest who gave them up). We traveled through the Nyungwe forest and saw so many Colobus Monkeys. I felt just like Dian Fossy! Then we went up to lake Kivu for some little R&R time by the lake. I love the rhythm of Rwanda! The movement of the animals, the walk of the women carrying one to many things and the singing. Oh, the singing! Everywhere we went, people were singing. Men canoeing across the lake, women on the bus, mothers and fathers out in the fields, children learning to count, all singing! If you don’t believe me, check out the video clip! All of us were sad to leave beautiful, happy Rwanda, but I am excited to be back in Uganda where I can understand almost every other word (as opposed to none!) :-)

Have a great day!

Love you and miss you!

-Sarah

shot takin out the window, sorry its blurry

A beautiful Rwandan woman carrying: a baby (on her back), suitcase, water can, woven mat, sack of potatoes and a sack of beans. This woman is hard core!

Courtney, me and Jess at the entrance to Nungwe forest.

Courtney, Sarah, Daniel (our Guide) and Jess, getting ready to go monkey trecking and being Dian Fossy

Colobus monkeys in Nyungwe forest

Hey! Writing this from Rwanda just to check in and let everyone know that I am here and having a blast in this amazing country. Courtney, Jess (two other peace corps volunteers) and myself are taking a vacation from PCV life and visiting Rwanda. Our phones don't work while we are here, so if you have been trying to call, this is why you can't get through. Despite all their trouble in the past, this is by far one of the most breath taking places I have ever been. I don't have time for a real update, so here are a few pictures, more to come later, I promise :-)

Love you all!