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
Thursday, August 14, 2008
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
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
Sunday, July 20, 2008
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!
Friday, July 11, 2008
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
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
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
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
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
Monday, June 30, 2008
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
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
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