The first term ended last Thursday and my goodness, my school way not kidding when they told me: “sometimes, the first term is somehow busy…” I found myself with a number of projects and events, often going on at the same time. As a relaxed to my favorite “public transport” song (Nelly’s “It Must Be the Money”) last Friday on a run-down matatu (15 passenger van with 20 people instead of 15 stuffed in) that needed to be pushed a block before it could start) on my way to see a friend 4 hours away (on a road where the pot holes resemble small lakes) for Easter, I remembered that it’s been a while since I wrote in my blog. Unfortunately, such a venue is not an appropriate location for breaking out my laptop so again, I’m a bit delayed.
I have continued to work with my Life Skills club. We are still making liquid soap and doing self-esteem activities, but now we’ve added on bee keeping with 5 bee hives in front of the school, the actual bees coming soon (pictured: 2 of the hives and some of the girls "baiting" the hives with melted bees wax).
I also started running with the girls and some of the teachers on Saturday morning during the
school’s weekly Morning Road Run (the school just started again this term: imagine 900 girls running down the road, all singing at the top of their lungs….it’s crazy). At the school, the green club and I have also added another large stove (2nd installment of 4 as seen in the picture), copying the larger version I got to help a 
vocational school and some Peace Corps Volunteers build in Gulu (just south of me) in honor of Peace Corps’ 50th anniversary (see picture of a bricklaying teacher and some of his students are pictured with the nearly completed product). 
With the help of the fine art teacher and 2 fine art students, the world map is complete (minus the names of the countries) in all of its colorful glory, front row and center, visible from even the main road and is bound to help the students finally understand the shape, size, and location of such strange countries as Canada, India, and of course, Uganda. With all these projects, I have been more busy outside of the classroom than inside the classroom and I am still in shock about how much trust my school has in me (enough to let me draw the world free hand on a prominent wall of the school without any geography or fine art degree to qualify me) and support my school gives me to allow me to do and then to fund these huge projects. 
Thank goodness I ended up at a school as crazy as I am.
I’ve also started to work with 2 of the 10 women’s groups that my Head Teacher began. These groups started to help women in the same villages help each other recover from the war financially and mentally. After fleeing their homes and then living in Internally Displaced People Camps for as many as 20 years, these women returned to looted homes and lacked basics they needed to get their lives back: pots, pans, etc. Alone, none of them could afford all that they needed, so they saved together and each week they
would pool their money for one member to buy what she needed. After a while, they also started to making needle points and paper beads to make extra money through the Anglican Diocese. 
Now, we make liquid soap with a vengeance to make money and mud stoves in their homes to save money on firewood. Between the local gossip and the impromptu composing of songs that they do as they work, these women are a lot of fun to work with.
I have continued to work with my Life Skills club. We are still making liquid soap and doing self-esteem activities, but now we’ve added on bee keeping with 5 bee hives in front of the school, the actual bees coming soon (pictured: 2 of the hives and some of the girls "baiting" the hives with melted bees wax).
I also started running with the girls and some of the teachers on Saturday morning during the
school’s weekly Morning Road Run (the school just started again this term: imagine 900 girls running down the road, all singing at the top of their lungs….it’s crazy). At the school, the green club and I have also added another large stove (2nd installment of 4 as seen in the picture), copying the larger version I got to help a 
vocational school and some Peace Corps Volunteers build in Gulu (just south of me) in honor of Peace Corps’ 50th anniversary (see picture of a bricklaying teacher and some of his students are pictured with the nearly completed product). 
With the help of the fine art teacher and 2 fine art students, the world map is complete (minus the names of the countries) in all of its colorful glory, front row and center, visible from even the main road and is bound to help the students finally understand the shape, size, and location of such strange countries as Canada, India, and of course, Uganda. With all these projects, I have been more busy outside of the classroom than inside the classroom and I am still in shock about how much trust my school has in me (enough to let me draw the world free hand on a prominent wall of the school without any geography or fine art degree to qualify me) and support my school gives me to allow me to do and then to fund these huge projects. 
Thank goodness I ended up at a school as crazy as I am.I’ve also started to work with 2 of the 10 women’s groups that my Head Teacher began. These groups started to help women in the same villages help each other recover from the war financially and mentally. After fleeing their homes and then living in Internally Displaced People Camps for as many as 20 years, these women returned to looted homes and lacked basics they needed to get their lives back: pots, pans, etc. Alone, none of them could afford all that they needed, so they saved together and each week they
would pool their money for one member to buy what she needed. After a while, they also started to making needle points and paper beads to make extra money through the Anglican Diocese. 
Now, we make liquid soap with a vengeance to make money and mud stoves in their homes to save money on firewood. Between the local gossip and the impromptu composing of songs that they do as they work, these women are a lot of fun to work with.These projects have certainly made me miss a few conveniences from America including bricks that don’t break in half if you drop them from 1 m in the air and have led to a few small disasters like purple paint spilling all over the boot of my bus, including on 20 pineapples, after being packed poorly (the only good thing that came out of this is that I have never gotten off a bus to a more concerned and helpful crowd of boda bodas (motorcycle drivers)—these people are usually more likely to laugh at or harass you than help, but I guess purple paint everywhere seemed to help my position because I swear they were all sincerely sorry about my situation).
All in all, a very successful Spring, but now I get to take a chill pill for a few weeks before the circus of my busy schedule begins again next term (so much for that free time I thought I’d have in Peace Corps). Hope all is well and keep me up to date with any and all exciting/mundane news.
All in all, a very successful Spring, but now I get to take a chill pill for a few weeks before the circus of my busy schedule begins again next term (so much for that free time I thought I’d have in Peace Corps). Hope all is well and keep me up to date with any and all exciting/mundane news.
