Africa through the eyes of my camera

Team Lugazi 2011

A boy carrying water back from the well

Me taking a refreshing dip under the well

The clinic we are going to help at in this remote village.

A  leisure hike through Uganda 

they call me Mzungu

Kevin, Martin and I on the Nile River

                                                              

Uganda is known as the Pearl of Africa and for good reason. It is amazing here. It is the perfect temperature to me. It can get hot and humid but not crazy hot since we are higher up in elevation. Uganda is situated right on the equator so the temperature pretty much stays the same all year long. My favorite part about Uganda is how lush and jungle it is. When I think about Africa I always pictured the Lion King look, huge open grasslands and very flat but here in Uganda its all lush green jungles and lots of hills.

I live in the town of Lugazi. Lugazi has a population of about 39,000 to 40,000. It is located about 40 miles east of the capital city Kampala. There is a lot of work to do here in this country and there are many great people who understand just what needs to be done to improve their home country and they have a great desire to do so.

A typical road in Uganda

The people here are very friendly and very humble. Although not as open as Dominicans at first, but once they get talking they will tell you their whole life story and the life story of the person next to them. I feel like a celebrity here, everytime we leave our house we are surrounded by little kids who come screeming “MUZUNGU” They literally will come from every corner and they all start clapping in rhythym while chanting that word. Muzungu is Lugandan for “white person”, so I guess its only right that they yell that. Although its getting kinda old, always hearing the kids yell that everywhere we go. But I have started to teach all the kids to pound it when they see me. So I either get a high five or a fist when I walk by them now.

Most Ugandans speak english although they all grow up speaking Lugandan. I have started to learn some phrases in Lugandan and I am trying to learn as much as I can before I come home. It’s a hard language and without a teacher none of us really understand the grammar of it, but we all have fun and try to say what we know.

We have spent our first week in the country meetin with different local groups that have ideas they want to see done to help improve their country. With HELP International we are going to decide on different projects to setup and run this summer that will improve the country and people. We can choose whatever projects interest us and then we are the ones in charge. I am really excited to start meeting with hospitals and groups to get the eye camp set up and running this year. We also had the chance to spend the day in this remote village at a clinic that has just been built. We helped to test people for Malaria and other diseases and also got to hike around and see the village. The clinic is being run by an American lady that graduated from BYU and is a nurse practitioner. 

 Hiking through the jungle to the local well in the village

Next stop Piccadilly Circus

On our two day flying adventure to Uganda, I had the chance to spend the day traveling around London while I waited to catch my flight that night to Kenya. All of the volunteers that were headed to Africa traveled together. We flew from Chicago to London overnight and upon arriving quickly set off to see the city. I spent the day with my good friend Kevin touring all the major sites there are to see in London. We quickly jumped on the underground, remembering to “mind the gap” and set off for Westminster. 

As soon as we came out from the underground we were in the shadow of Big Ben. Everywhere we looked there was some famous landmark. Of course the day we are there it is overcast and raining but that just enhanced our London experience. We set off towards Westminster Abbey where hundreds of people were in line to be able to see the inside and where the wedding took place. We just took some pictures outside on the grounds and then headed down the street past parliament. We made our way down to St. James and shot over to the Buckingham Palace. 

After we got our fix of touristy pictures we decided to just wander down the streets and find cool things. We eventually found our way to Piccadilly Circus and found this very European restaurant that had fish and chips. We had no idea how to do things there. We sat there for about twenty minutes before anyone came to help us and after we ate it took them another thirty to get us a bill. It was very good and  a fun restaurant so we didn’t mind. After a long day of walking and seeing the wonderful city of London we headed back down the Piccadilly Line towards the airport and checked back in for our flight to Kenya.