Welcome to Musana Children's Home

Hey everyone! The kids have moved into Musana and they are having a blast there! They spend their days running around in the beautiful fields and playing games, or having lessons in the classrooms next door to the dormitories. They love being able to play outside in something besides a trash heap, and sleeping in beds instead of on the dirt. They really are totally new children, children who are finally able to experience what childhood should be like.

The kids will officially start school this week at Musana with 3 hired teachers and a headmaster, who will teach Primary 3-6. Volunteers, such as myself, will be teaching Nursery, Primary 1 and 2. Many of them are very behind in their schooling, mostly because the schooling they received at Maranatha was insufficient, but we are working hard to catch them up and allow them to have brighter futures.

It has been really incredible being with these kids in their new environment, and seeing them thrive in an atmosphere with people that support and love them. We still need a lot of help in order to bring in the last 30 kids, provide beds and rooms for them to sleep in, pay teachers and matrons salaries, and everything else that goes into caring for these kids. But thank you so much to everyone who has already contributed to this cause, I wish you could all see how happy these kids are now…we've really given them their lives back.

-Hilary


Boys dormitory


Girls dormitory


Sunrays of Hope mural


Some of the girls


Boys eating outside


The Kitchen

Update on Musana

Hi everyone. Hilary is currently traveling in Tanzania but I thought I would pass along this update from the woman Hilary has been working with to get the Musana orphanage up and running. As you can see, the impact your support has on these children is very real. Just a reminder, you can still donate to Musana by clicking the picture to the right of this post.

-Justin (Hilary's brother in NYC)

Hey Everyone!
Musana has officially began! The children are finally sleeping in their very own beds under mosquito nets! On Tuesday, the 16th of September, we moved the first 40 children into Musana. Seeing the looks on the kids faces when they walked into their bedrooms and found their name tags on their double decker beds, made every struggle SOOO worth it. When they first walked into their rooms with only one plastic bag of the few possessions they own, they stood still in shock. They couldn't believe that this was all for them. When I gave them the demand to go find their names they all took off in excitement. When they found their beds they began screaming. It took hours for them to calm down. They all stayed on their beds singing and dancing. It was a priceless moment. When it came time to sleep many of the kids didn't understand that they were supposed to get under the sheet and blanket. We had to go around and explain how to sleep in a bed. I tucked every single one of the 40 in and gave them a huge hug and kiss on the cheek. It was by far the best and most rewarding moment in my entire life. I pray to God that these kids will never sleep another night on the rocky dirt floors they have spent their entire lives on.

Today, Wednesday, the kids played ALL day long with the jump ropes, soccer balls, art supplies, and books. After lunch I gave each child a piece of paper and colored pencils. I told them to close their eyes and imagine their futures. I then told them to draw what they see themselves being or achieving. Most drew houses with televisions, beds, and sofa sets. Some drew professions like doctors, soccer players, lawyers, and pilots. A few of the girls drew pictures of Musana. I hung their drawings up by their name tags in their rooms. They are so proud of their work… they have never been given a plain white piece of paper to just draw on. Some of the littlest things that we so easily take advantage of in America, like beds, tooth brushes, paper, and even soap, are acting as a paradise here in Iganga.

As joyful as the past few days have been, there is one thing that pains the kids as well as me about Musana. That is the fact that there are still 110 children left at Maranatha (their previous orphanage.) When we were picking the 40 kids up to transfer them, the others were sobbing because they weren't picked for this opportunity. I had to stay in the car because I couldn't look at their faces. It makes me physically sick knowing that we can't help all 150 but I know we can only take what we can manage and for now that number doesn't exceed 80. So we will move in the next 40 in the upcoming weeks and pray for the ones left. I have to keep reminding myself of a quote by Mother Teresa, "If you can't feed one hundred people, then just feed one." So we may not be able to include all 150 into Musana but we can include 80 and that is all thanks to you back in the states. Without your support none of this would be happening. So I sincerely thank all of you for your efforts. Whether it is finances, prayer, or spreading the word, we are all doing this together.

Love always, Andrea

Whistle While You Work

Hi everyone! It’s been awhile since my last update, but it’s been very busy here. The biggest news I have to share is that while I will be going home in December, I will only be home for about a month and then will be returning to Iganga until June to help get Musana up and running. I am on the Board of Directors now as Overseer of Offices, and am also in charge of the nursery school, which will be at Musana and will have 19 kids in it to start. So it’s all really exciting, and I’m looking forward to being here long enough to really get involved in the process. We finally got Musana registered, and now we are in the process of opening a bank account so we can buy beds, build a kitchen area at the new site, and move the kids in. This past week we have been cleaning the new permanent houses and painting the rooms with some of the kids, which has been hard work but a lot of fun. They are really excited about being part of the process of getting their new home ready, as you can see from the pictures I sent along. Hopefully within the next few weeks we’ll actually get the kids moved in and be able to officially start the orphanage.

My friend Andy turned 21 last week so we took her bunji jumping, which for my mother’s benefit I will not put up more pictures of, but it was a great time. Besides that everything has been pretty normal here. My school is on holiday until late September, so I will be taking a three week trip through Kenya and Tanzania with my friend Heidi, leaving on September 7, so I’m looking forward to that.

Because of my large leadership role at Musana, I will be less involved with the orphanage I was originally affiliated with here, Self Reliance, and because of that any mail you wish to send me, or any donations you wish to send to Musana (i.e. clothes, shoes, books, toys) should be sent to:

Hilary Strasburger

Musana Children’s Home

P.O. Box 35

Iganga, Uganda East Africa

Monetary donations, or any interest in sponsoring children, are still going through ELI for now until we get a Musana NGO set up, and anything you can give is hugely appreciated by us as well as the kids. Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the final days of summer. I miss you all tons!

Love,

Hilary

Safari (July 30) [Pictures to come later]

Hi everyone!
Just returned yesterday from an incredible safari in western Uganda. The safari lasted 4 days, 3 nights, and we saw so many animals. The first day we went to a rhinoceros sanctuary where we got up close and personal with 5 white rhinos. The next day we actually entered the park and went on a forest walk, where we did not see any chimpanzees unfortunately, but we heard quite a few. After that we crossed the Nile by ferry to get to the northern side of the park where most of the animals are. We went on a game trek that afternoon and saw waterbuck, warthogs, baboons, buffalo, giraffes, elephants, and a lion. We camped that night in the bush, which was pretty cool because we could hear the animals from our campsite. The third day we woke up at 5:30 to do a very early morning game drive, where we saw more giraffes, warthogs, elephants, and waterbuck, but we also saw a leopard, which is very rare. We then traveled back through the park to the river, where we boarded a boat for a trip down the river to Murchison Falls. During the boat trip we saw more elephants, hippos, and crocodiles. Once we got to the waterfall we hiked to the top of it where we were camping for the night. The views of the falls were breathtaking and it was really incredible camping so near to them for the night. The next morning we drove back out of the park and returned home. It was a very successful safari, and we had a great group of people with us of various nationalities, so it was a lot of fun. Hope you enjoy the pictures! I will be going rafting on the Nile on Thursday with some of the girls I met on the safari, so wish me luck…it should be pretty amazing.

-Hilary

3-2-1 Bungee!! (July 23)

Hi guys! This week's blog is slightly more exciting than some of the others – I went bungee jumping on Saturday! A bunch of us went into Jinja, which is about 45 minutes away from Iganga and a very cute slightly touristy town. We had to climb up this tower, and then jump off into the Nile. Some of us (myself included) even dunked in the Nile when we jumped, which was very cool. It was a really amazing experience, and definitely like nothing I've ever done before.

Besides that, things are pretty normal here. I will be leaving for my safari tomorrow, so get ready for some awesome pictures!

-Hilary

Kampala (July 18)

Jambo! It has been a busy week here in Iganga. Last weekend I went with a few friends to Kampala, the capital city of Uganda, which was a lot of fun. It was nice to get away for a bit and go to a bigger city. We stayed at some nice hostels and visited a really beautiful cathedral. We also took advantage of the slightly more American aspects of the city, such as the mall and the movie theater.

Back in Iganga, I have been doing a lot of painting with some friends. We painted a nursery school in the area, including repainting the swings, merry go round, and benches, and painting a beautiful mural as well. We will be painting a mural at another school next week.

Besides that, I've been making magazine necklaces at the orphanage and teaching. We are going to the village again tomorrow to see the dancers and musicians, so that should be fun. Enjoy the pictures, I'll send more soon!
-Hilary

Correction to previous blog

Hey guys, quick note. Maranatha is the orphanage I talked about in my last blog, but I made a mistake when talking about the new orphanage that will be built. The new orphanage is called Musana (not Munasa) and will be starting in the very near future, as Maranatha will be closed down on August 1st. One of my friends in the ELI program who is leaving Iganaga today is going to try to start an NGO for Musana so that people can donate directly to the orphanage, but for now the best way to help out is to click the Donate Now picture on my blog (Thanks Jus!) and donate through ELI, and make any checks out to Musana Children's Home. We are putting together a budget for all expenses, both capital and annual, right now, as well as a Musana Constitution and mission statement so I will try to give people access to that if they are interested. Hope you're all doing well, and I'll send more pictures soon!

Mirenatha

Hi everyone! Things are going well here, lots of a teaching and playing with kids. Managed to get a beautiful African sunset picture so hope you enjoy that.

One of my friends who was only supposed to be here three months recently decided to stay for an entire year in order to help start a new orphanage. I went to see the current orphanage, Mirenatha, yesterday, and it is in horrible condition. It is being run as an orphanage and boarding school, and the classrooms double as dormitories at night. There are close to 200 children at the orphanage, and they sleep in rooms on mats on the dirt in groups of about 35. The facilities are fairly miserable and without the help of volunteers they will be running out of food for the children at the end of the month. Because of all these things, the government has told my friend, Andrea, that she has their support to find a new facility and take the kids out of Mirenatha. What really inspires me though is how happy all the kids are, and how excited they are to interact with all the volunteers who come. The plan is to start a new orphanage in a year, called Munasa, which means "Sunshine" in Lusoga. While they are buying land and planting at the new location in order to make it self-sustainable, the children will be placed in permanent houses and enrolled in the public schools so that they receive a proper education. I will be helping Andy a lot in the next six months both with caring for all of the children as well as building the new orphanage. It is quite a job though, and we are trying to raise money right now for all of the new facilities.

Anyone who is interested in contributing to this cause should check out the ELI website, where currently all donations to will go directly to Mirenatha for buying new beds and paying for food for the kids, as well as getting money to build the new orphanage. If you would rather not contribute through ELI but wish to help the cause, please contact me personally and we can figure something out. You can see from the pictures just how bad the conditions are, so hopefully we can get these kids to a better place soon.

Besides that, I did another project in the village today, called URACOM, working with women and children affected by AIDS on an agriculture project, which was pretty impressive. There are tons of farms, a fish pond, as well as craft production, and those involved with the project sell the products in markets. I look forward to helping out with many of the agriculture products and getting to know the people involved. Hope everyone is well!

-Hilary


Bedroom and classroom at Mirenatha (Sleeps 35!)


Mirenatha courtyard and cooking area


Bedroom at Mirenatha


Kids dancing and singing at Mirenatha


African sunset

Happy 4th of July!

On Wednesday I went with Ruth, Richard and Nassar to a nearby village to visit a support group for people infected with and affected by HIV/AIDS. One of the groups is run by a man named Sam who is infected, and who helps care for other who are infected when he is healthy enough. We began by visiting the homes of some victims, all of whom were single parents running households of a minimum of five children. In each home I visited, the parent was infected and in some homes there were infected children as well. Each parent had either been widowed because of the AIDS virus, or their spouse had divorced them after finding out that they were infected. One of the largest problems in this village is all of the children who require care. While there are parents and guardians for those that have been orphaned, many are too old or too sick to provide proper care and education for these children. After visiting the people in their homes, we went to a large support group meeting of youth, men, and women who were affected in someway by HIV/AIDS. It was really inspiring to see how the people reached out to each other, even in their own times of need. I will be coming back to visit the village in the future to work with some of the children in the area in whatever way that I can.

My trip to Mt. Elgon got postponed until next week so you wont be hearing about that until later, but we had a bonfire and sparklers last night for the 4th of July so that was fun. Best wishes to everyone, I'll write again soon!

Mwelaba!
-Hilary



Support group


Girls dancing at the support group meeting


Family with AIDS


Sam with girls from the village


Ruth with orphan baby

Dancing Queen

[Note from Justin: Sorry for the picture quality. I will try to reupload the pictures when I get home from work to fix this problem.]


View from road near orphanage


View from road near orphanage

Hello everyone! Thankfully I finally figured out a way to send pictures so hopefully you are all enjoying those. I've been doing some teaching and helping out at the orphanage this past week, including a project where I helped all the kids fabric paint t-shirts, which turned out to be pretty adorable. I will be starting some other projects in the community in the near future so I will keep you posted on those.


Bugabwe School


Bugabwe School


Bugabwe School office


T-shirt project

On Friday, a bunch of other volunteers and I went into one of the villages to see a wonderful musical group, which has been in existence in this village since 1930. They played a xylophone that was built into the ground, flutes, drums and other instruments. There were also lots of dancers and even a wrestling match. The whole thing finished off with what they called a unity dance where everyone, ourselves included, danced together in a big circle. It was mildly embarrassing and a lot of fun! I look forward to experiencing other cultural events in the future.


Musicians processing


Men dancing


Women dancing


Group dancing

On Thursday until Sunday I will be leaving with a few other volunteers to climb Mt. Elgon, located a few hours from Iganga in the Eastern part of Uganda, so I will be celebrating the 4th of July from a mountain top, which should be pretty cool. Enjoy the photos and I'll be posting more soon. Hope you're all doing well and enjoying the summer, have a happy 4th of July!

-Hilary

More Pictures!!

Gideon, Ronard & Richard


Ruth & Nassar


My bedroom


My living room


The orphanage


The swing behind the orphanage


The orphanage cooking area


The orphanage garden

Pictures!!

So I finally have pictures to share! I’ve already talked about most of the things I’ve been doing in my first days here so I will pass along pictures of the things I’ve been talking about so you can all get an idea of life in Iganga. A quick note on the orphanage: it is run by Ruth and Richard whose mother started the orphanage in 2003. Gideon, Ronard and Nassar are also around all the time helping out with craft projects and the kids. Enjoy the pictures and I’ll be passing along pictures of the school and much more as soon as possible!
Mwelaba!
Hilary















The kids watching Cinderella
















Kids smiling



Sharon



Priscilla



Chris George and Me
















My house