I'm here!!!!!

I have been for two weeks now, but this is the first working computer I have come across! Ayyyyy where do I begin?

I am very happy. Haha, overall the past two weeks here have been eye-opening like no other experience I have ever had - even more so than I expected - in both good ways and - not bad, but uncomfortable. However, it's the uncomfortable situations that are making me feel so good about being here (visiting a tribal area where female mutilation is still practiced, travelling on a bumpy dirt road in a taxi with enough seats to fit 10 yet 25 are squeezed in there with chickens and children and the guy is filling the gas tank by putting gasoline into his mouth and spitting it into the car, making bricks - totally not my forte, etc. etc. etc.)

Our whole group is working together to keep eachother sane, safe, aware, helpful, open-minded and educated. We have all become so close so fast - as environments like this tend to encourage - and have eachother's best interest at heart (every morning at least one person shouts out "MALARIA PILLS!" for anyone that may have forgotten to take them...)

Here we are known as "mzungus" (moo-zoon-goos) - a non-derogatory word (?) for white people - and we can hear it being shouted from the hills as we pass through our village, especially from the mouths of children who are always soooo excited to see us. Some come running up to come shake our hands, some kneel as they do, while the others run in fear - tears streaming down their adorable faces. Of course, I'm constantly running around looking to hug them all and since it's about a 25% chance you'll get a cryer - I've since recieved the nickname, "mzungu monster". Someone has already taken the title from me with a triple-whammy (making three cry in a row) but I'm sure I'll grab it back some day, haha.

So our daily schedule is 8-5 building a volunteer house for FDNC - the organization we are working for here. The organization is amazing, the people are light-hearted and helpful. The site we work at is a vocational school compound, including a special needs community, a children's band that plays all over town, tailoring school, beauty school, and a comptuer science school. We're having a blast with all of them who are making us feel so welcome, and completely immersed as people - not just crazy mzungus (and they totally do think we're all crazy) haha.

This past weekend we went to Sipi Falls (which I thought was Sleepy Falls until we got there) and sat behind waterfalls, hiked up mountainsides, climbed into a bat cave (gross but awesome) and while I was sitting next to one waterfall I found myself in the middle of a rainbow!!! Full circle, streams of color surrounding me - ah, what a spiritual experience that was, and really hard to explain in words.

Ok time is running out but I will write soon. I really want to get into words how I feel about my true purpose being here but I am changing my mind about that every day. Maybe I'll save that for the last post.

OH and OF COURSE! The donations. OMYGOSH if you could only see the reactions from those soccer balls... I have never seen bigger, brighter smiles. I laugh as I walk the mile (uphill, cough cough) to work every day and I see one of the balls come bounding across a field. They've infiltrated the community and even though they seem simple material objects - those balls have helped to keep the people light-hearted despite the intense poverty and hardship that truly devestates this area. So thank you thank you thank you. You have brought smiles to some of the most precious faces I have ever seen.

And as for the school supplies - I am bringing them up next week. I decided the best use for them was to the Special Needs school because they literally have nothing. And unfortuantely, the special needs kids as a group have been rejected for years (not unlike the U.S.) and the people that are running it are having a hard time finding sufficient support. And these kids. wow. All kids come running and laughing - but this community comes leaping. They love people, singing, and talking with empowerment about conquering their disabilities which ranges from physical to mental and everything in between. I've learned a little sign language to be able to communicate with the three deaf girls (one I have not met, because she can't afford to get to school all the time - this is common everywhere).

In conclusion, thank you all for your support. This trip is pushing my comfort levels in all sorts of intense, necessary ways and I am happy as a clam in the sea (or a white girl in Uganda) haha.

Much love to all!