week 1!

So I have been in Uganda for a little over one week now and could write endlessly about my time here. I spent my first few days in Gulu with the Rock Harbor team and friends at Gulu Bible Church. Returning to Gulu was a surreal experience filled with so much joy. I saw so many of the same children and they even remembered songs that I had taught them a year and a half ago. We were fortunate enough to see a hip-hop performance from the kids at HEALS, which was amazing! One of the girls taught the rock harbor girls and I an awesome hip-hop dance (however, she looked a million times better doing it than we ever could!)

After Gulu I took the bus down to Kampala and made the journey to my new home, the Mukono district. I have met some amazing people here with the organization who are working in other villages around Mukono and have been able to travel around Uganda with them on our days off.

On June 16th I made the trek out to my village, Mayangayanga, where I will be living for the month. Mayangayanga is a tiny, peaceful village about an hour from Mukono town . Peter, the headmaster of the school where I teach, brought me to the school were I was greeted with 307 smiling faces singing songs of thanks.

The school has one small building for the baby class and all other classes are held outside, under trees, with blackboards tied to trees and wooden benches. Peter is a wonderful man with a contagious passion for education and development. He started the school, which is private (no government support) about 6 years ago in order to provide children with a better education than those that are government-funded.

Peter's school, Saint Maria Primary School, has about 7 teachers who love children and work very hard to make due with the little the school has. The salary of these teachers is only 25,000 - 50,000 shillings per month (which is about 13-25 US dollars). Because of the poverty in the village, parents can only afford to pay 17,000 shillings a quarter ( 3 US dollars a month). For lunch, the school can only afford to feed the children porridge.

Fortunately, Peter had been able to purchase land and hopes to soon gain enough funding to build classrooms. We have estimated that the cost of construction per classroom is about $2,250 and he only needs 8.

Life in the village was hard to get used to at first as I am the only mzungu (white person) for miles and am living alone. However, I am surrounded by great kids who are on my doorstep morning, noon, and night wanting to sing songs with me on guitar, teach me Ugandan dances and songs, take silly pictures, or go for a run at sunset.

Living in the village is a much different experience from my previous trips to Africa and to say it has been hard would be an understatement. Though I am so blessed by the most welcoming and loving people, I even more aware of the extreme contrast between life in the US and how most of the world lives. Some things are very beautiful, but others are painful and my heart breaks for something new everyday.

As the closest internet is here in Mukono town, about an hour and a half away, I am unable to write everything that I wish to tell you all about, but will share all my stories when I return to the states! Please keep Mayangayanga in your thoughts and prayers!

ps. this weekend i camped in jinja with the other volunteers and conquered the Nile a second time..boom! I also went to church in Ggaba and was able to spend the day with David, Jona and Jackie, and their adorable twins! :)