Melissa's Visit

Hey Everyone!

I hope your Thanksgiving was great!

I just wanted to fill you in on a few things that happened the last week in Uganda. My cousin Melissa came the last week that I was there. It was wonderful to have her there. She did a 3 day physical therapy seminar at the clinic. It was so fun to see the clinic staff practice on each other.

Jane checking rotation

Acrid attempting to touch his toes...We found out that Ugandans are very stiff.

Melissa demonstrating the seated slump test

Little Faith practicing the Sacral Spring Test on Joakim (sp)

Then she went to Home Again Orphanage and helped teach some of the older girls so that they can help some of the kids who are physically challenged.

Playing on the ball

Joyce and Baby Paige

Then we also went to visit Robert, a young man who was hit by a car back in July, and give him some strengthening exercises.

Robert doing heel raises...they were very difficult for him.

Robert doing front extensions

I had a great time showing Melissa the village and having her meet all the people that have become a part of my live. It was such a great experience to share with her.

Talk to again soon!

Love,

Joyce

La Gringa

Home

Hey Everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!

I just wanted to let you know that we're home and doing great. I will post a few more blogs about the last week there and the trip home with in a week. Thank you all for your prayers and support.

It's great to be home!

Love,

Joyce

La Gringa

Finals

Hey Everyone!

I'm sorry that I haven't updated the blog for a while. I've been busy trying to finish my to do list before my cousin, Melissa, comes this weekend. It seems, I've been busy in every way.

The rainy season is in full swing, frustrating life and at the same time causing new life to grow. I find it fascinating every time I walk by a crop of corn; it grows like a foot over night. I also find it annoying, every night when I turn on my reading light, I'm constantly swatting at the baby insects that are so small they fit through the mesh of my mosquito net. Hahaha...I'm tired of them flying up my nose or in my eyes, but I refuse to give up reading at night.

Because the rainy season is in full swing, that, as I recently found out, means that I get to walk to Dorcas. It's easier for me to walk through the mud than to dig the car out when it gets stuck. But my walking has not been in vain; I've learned a valuable lesson along the way...if you walk in the grass between the 2 ruts, you don't get so muddy, AND you are less likely to slip and fall on your butt. Words of wisdom.

Pajero stuck in some ladies sweet potato patch.

.

Anyway, this last week we also inaugurated our earthen oven. We made flat bread and pizza in it. The pizza was a little doughy in the middle so we had to put it in the gas cooker for a few minutes to finish it. But the flavor was awesome! We'll get it right next time.

Italian style flat bread

Pepperoni Pizza...MMmmmm

My class has also been busy with their final exams. The term is not over, but because I'm going home, I had to administer my exams early. The girls took their theory exams last week, and are in the middle of their practicals this week. So far, they have done very well; I'm excited to see the progress that they've made.

Making Banana Bread

Making Chocolate Chip Cookies

I look forward to being home soon, but I will miss the girls and the excitement for learning that they have. Talk to you again soon.

Love,

Joyce

La Gringa

Sustainability

Hey Everyone!!!!!!

My time here is getting shorter and shorter...35 days! I'm looking forward to my cousin, Melissa, coming the middle of November. I'm excited to share with her all that is happening here, and to have her work with the people.

The last week has been very busy; not only have I been teaching classes, but Katie and I have been researching how to build earth ovens. One of the major issues here is sustainability, so Katie and I have been looking for ways in which the girls at Dorcas can continue baking even when they return to their homes. After many Google searches we settled on an earth oven. They are inexpensive to make and all the materials can be found locally.

After reading many websites on the subject, we set out to create our own earth oven.

We had a lot of help from the boys at Home Again and from Kolby and Logan. First we mixed soil and fresh cow manure together as the mortar for our brick base.

It was really foul smelling, and even after many washings our hands still smelled like manure.

What a nice looking base (Yeah Dad, I know you taught me better than that)...Hahaha. After we completed our base, we piled a heap of sand and covered it with paper.

Then we covered it with a couple of thick layers of mud mixed with sawdust to help it stay together.

TA DA!!!!!!!

Now all we have to do is wait for it to dry a little more so that we can cut out the door and the chimney....or not...

Shortly after we finished, it started raining (Did I mention that it's rainy season???), and it's rained everyday since. It's so wet that we're still waiting to cut out the door and the chimney. So it might not be the ideal time to build an earth oven, but we did, and I look forward to baking breads and pizza in it...someday...I hope. Hahaha!

If all goes well, we'll be teaching the girls at Dorcas how to build these in the next couple of weeks, and maybe I'll build one at home...when I get there.

Talk to you again soon! Thanks for all your prayers and support.

Love,

Joyce

La Gringa

The Wildlife

Hey Everyone!

I've had many people ask my what the wildlife is life like here, so I thought I'd show you.

The wildlife is not what people typically think of as "African Wildlife." Uganda does not have any giraffes, and you have to go on safari in a the national park to see typical African wildlife. But that doesn't mean we are devoid of interesting creatures.

People here are afraid of just about everything, and Uganda is full of many "scary" creatures; they come in sizes big and bigger. The first on my list of feared creatures is the Praying Mantis. It was about 3in long hiding out between the screen and the window. When I showed the girls in my class the picture they screamed and backed away.

On my daily walk between Faith's house and Katie & Chris's house I pass by another fierce beast...the Hybrid He Goat. This goat is know far and wide as an "evil" beast. The goat and I got into it a few weeks ago, he was in the middle of the path and refused to move so I pushed it a little. He didn't like it, so he decided to ram me. It actually made me mad, and I almost kicked the goat. But, I thought better of it and just stood my ground. The goat finally stopped, and I kept going. The owner was yelling from the other side of the field, "So sorry! So sorry! That goat is a demon; I swear." Now when ever I walk by the goat, he glares at me with his yellow eyes. I think I won. Hahaha!

The next exotic beast is the Baboon. This beast is found not in the wild bush, but rather along the highway to Fort Portal and commonly accepts food from passersby. But beware, if you are not careful, it'll try to hitch a ride.

Next in our list of Ugandan wildlife are the trash eating Town Cow and Stork. These two usually spent their days near the dumpster. Not much to fear here except all the germs and disease that seem to surround them.

Perhaps the most feared beast of them all is...Buff, the orphaned puppy adopted by the Sassers. The sound of his bark causes people to tremble; one flash of his sharp puppy teeth causes people to run in fear. Hahaha! People do run, but I told you Ugandans are afraid of everything. They marvel at the fact that he has a bed and is allowed in the house; Americans treat their dogs much different than Ugandans.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the exotic Ugandan wildlife. I tried to capture more of the gigantic insects that are here, but most of them have stingers; I try to avoid them...not get close enough to take a picture. The big spiders that I share a room with, we avoid each other, and the roaches die as soon as I can kill them. So there are no pictures of them...Sorry. (Not really.)

Talk to you again soon.

Love,

Joyce

La Gringa

The Joy of Dicing and Slicing

Hey Everyone!

I hope you're having an amazing week. I can't believe how fast the time is flying by...it's almost October. Then it will be November...Hooray!!!!!!! Yeah, I'm just a little excited about going home and seeing my family, my dog and everyone else. Only 58 days!

Wow, that makes me seem like I'm not having a good time. I really am; I just miss all of you.

Last week, I started catering classes (cooking is catering here). The girls are doing very well...turns out, I'm a better cooking instructor than a tailoring instructor. I think the fact that I like to cook has something to do with it. Hahaha!

We have been covering how to read a recipe, kitchen tools, knife skills and sanitation - a very difficult thing to get a cross; clean is a relative term here. I also decided to teach the girls how to double and half a recipe, little did I know that I would have to teach them how to multiply and divide fractions. I felt like I was back in elementary school.

Supplies are limited so there are 9 girls to a cutting board...we've also learned about sharing and patience this week. :0)

Dicing onions...only a few tears were shed.

My TA and translator, Kerungi Moreen, doing what I told the girls not to do...cut on an open table.

Some of the girls showing off their newly acquired skills.

Next week, we will start baking in the gas cooker (gas oven). The girls are so excited to learn how to make cakes and breads. I asked them if they liked cookies and pies; most of them have never had a cookie, and none of them knew what a pie was. So I'm excited to show them what a pies and cookies are.

Thanks for all your prayers and support. Talk to you again soon.

Love,

Joyce

La Gringa

Being Thankful

Hey Everyone,

I hope you are all doing well, and you're enjoying the back-to-school season.

Stars II, I miss you!!!! I'll see you soon!

I realized this week that my time here is getting very short. I crossed a couple of milestones this week. 1) I finished one bottle of Doxycycline; this might not seem significant, but when I went to pick up my prescription before I left the US the bottles read 1 of 2...quantity 210. I wanted to cry. So, now I have less than 105 pills left. HORRRRAAAAAAAAAY!

2) I realized (literally a light bulb moment) that I have a little more than 2 months left. My mom was right when she said that I would get busier the longer I was here. Mom, you were right. I'm now doing technical writing for Bringing Hope, teaching at Dorcas and teaching at the craft shop. I'm so busy that I forget to take pictures.

I was explaining my milestones to my friend last night, then I mentioned that I needed to write a blog but didn't know what to write about. He asked me what I had learned during my time here?...My first response was "What not to do." But then I had realization 3) Be thankful for the things that God has given you and the things He hasn't.

Being here has shown me that God knows me, better than I know myself. When I was in high school all I wanted was to get married, have kids and become a missionary. But, God in His infinite wisdom didn't give me what I thought I wanted. Now, 11 years later, I'm thankful that God didn't give me what I asked for. I love missions and will continue to be a part of it, but I realized that the life I wanted wasn't the best life for me. God knew that 11 years ago.

I'm grateful for the life God has given me; He has given me the opportunity to go places and do things that I would have never done if He had give me what I asked for so many years ago. My life is not what I thought it would be; it's much bigger...fuller than I envisioned.

So, this week thank God for the things He's given you and the things He hasn't. He knows you better than you know yourself.

Love,

Joyce

La Gringa

The Girls

Hey Everyone!!!!

As promised here is another blog!!!!!!

Since my life has slowed down...actually, my life hasn't slowed down, it's just that the stuff I'm doing now is not very photogenic. I don't think you want to see pictures of the stacks of information that I'm going through to write job descriptions, concept papers, manuals, etc, etc...ect. So I decided to introduce you to the girls of the house. I caught the girls washing when I took the pictures.

Esther

Left to right: Christine, Joana and Naomi

Juliet

Naomi

I stay in a room at Faith's house (the Director of Bringing Hope to the Family); Faith's house is always full of people who come and go: visitors, family, missions teams; but the girls always stay. There were 5 girls here when I came and now there are 8 girls staying here. Three of the girls (Christine, Esther and Liz) are Faith's nieces. Most of the girls are here because their parents can't provide for them, and they range in age from about 6 to 15...I think. In Uganda age and birthdays are not very important.

Many times, I come into the house, and they are singing. The other day I came in and the younger ones were singing the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme song in their broken English. It was AWESOME!!!!! I don't know where they learned it, but I decided to join them. So here we are in the middle of a village in Uganda singing the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air song. Absolutely hysterical!

This event led to a repeat concert the next night, but it became so much more. The girls (Christine, Esther, and Liz) decided that they were going to teach me Rutoro; a great gesture, but they speak only broken English and, as I found out later, poor Rutoro. So we enlisted Juliet to help. I now have a list of many Rutoro phrases that, I'm sorry to say, I haven't been practicing.

Juliana and Liz with Andre

Today, Liz and Juliana decided that I needed to share my room with them. So they came in and went though some of my things asking what is this? and what is that? Then they found "Andre" (my garden gnome...a spoof off of Travelocity.) Juliana said he was Father Christmas; Liz decided that he was a sculpture of my father. So, I showed them pictures of my family and what my father really looks like. Liz promptly decided that Andre was my grandfather instead. I haven't been able to convince her differently. :0)

Talk to you again soon.

Love,

Joyce

New Places

Hi Everyone!!!!

Sorry it's been soooooo long since I've written; sometimes it's difficult to find something to write about. Life isn't always exciting and blog worthy. I still find it ironic that I'm writing about my life and people are reading it...but that's just me. Thanks for your support! :0)

Life has slowed down since Dorcas is on break. I'm still in the process of doing some technical writing for Bringing Hope to the Family. It's a slow process.

This last week we took a trip to Rwanda, so I could renew my visa; it was an adventure. Katie, Chris, Kolby, Logan, AJ, Ana and I piled into the Pajero and took off on the adventure.

Me at the equator.

Rwanda is the land of 10,000 hills... literally. All the roads were s-curves up one side of a hill (small mountain) and then s-curves down the other side of the hill; then repeat this for 350 miles...it took us 12 hours...long day in the car.

Me, Katie and Ana in the Pajero.

We were making great time until we stopped at Kibale (a city just north of the Uganda/Rwanda border). Quick service is foreign concept in most restaurants in Uganda...the Little Ritz is no different. It took 2.5 hours to get our food...but in their defense the food was pretty good.

Next stop...the border. 1.5 hours later, 4-5 places to check-in and removal of window tinting and we were across and into Rwanda. Rwanda is a beautiful country, very clean and orderly, but they don't have many tourist attractions other than gorilla trekking and volcanoes. But if you like beautiful scenery then Rwanda will satisfy you. Their terrace farming is amazing; I've never seen anything like it anywhere else in the world.

Kigali, Rwanda in the morning mist.

We stayed in Kigali, the capitol, the first night. The city is built on two hills. It has beautiful views. The next day, we went from Kigali to Gisenyi on Lake Kivu. The drive was beautiful; we passed by the Volcano National Park and saw some smoking volcanoes.

Terracing on the road to Gisenyi.

Bamboo forest and road construction.

Lake Gisenyi is nice. It is a little hazy, but the water is warm; I think it's due to the closeness of the volcanoes. We spent the next day at one of the nice hotels using their pool and private beach. I decided not to swim in the lake...as we were driving to the hotel there were about 10 people bathing in the lake, so I decided swimming in the lake wasn't necessary.

We only spent one day in Gisenyi, then it was back to Uganda. AJ and I ended up getting sick on the day we came back, which made the trip even more memorable. LOL! All in all it was fun exploring a new country, and doing it with great friends made it even better.

I did learn a few things about traveling to and from Rwanda. So if you ever travel between Uganda and Rwanda here are some tips: Rwandans speak French...so learn some French, it is very difficult to exchange Ugandan Shillings in Rwanda...so exchange money before you go, Rwanda is more expensive than Uganda...so plan accordingly, and the biggest thing I learned is when renewing your visa, the Uganda border only accepts US$, not Ugandan Shillings...so make sure you take American money with you, or you'll be taken by a money changer at the border. :0)

We had a good time. I was nice to get away and explore a new place.

Talk to you again soon...I promise. :0) .

Love,

Joyce

La Gringa

Normal again...or maybe not.

Hi Everyone!!!!!

Life in the village is getting back to normal. It has slowed down some, since the missions teams have gone home.

This week Dorcas finished their term. Finals did not go as well as I had hoped, but in each challenge I learn more about the girls. Many of the girls were taken out of school at an early age to care for sick family members or to care for their brothers and sisters after their parents died. These girls are described as “uneducated;” they haven’t been taught how to study or that they can be successful. This truth became evident in their final examinations. I was sad at first and thought that it was my fault as a teacher.

Then I took a step back and realized that as a teacher I didn’t give them the tools that they needed to be successful. I taught them the things that they needed to know, but I didn’t teach them how to study and retain the information that they were given. I hope to start a study group at the beginning of the next term; maybe through this group the girls will learn how to study and retain the information they are taught. Please pray for these girls and for the staff at Dorcas they are facing many severe challenges financially, emotionally, spiritually and socially.

Since Dorcas is on break, my job here has changed for a little while. I will now be helping Bringing Hope to the Family (Dorcas’s parent organization) write job descriptions and a boilerplate, so that they can have these as reference materials whenever they apply for grant funding or they have new hires. I’m excited to help out in this way, and for the local community to see me as more than the “Cake Baker.”

Just for fun I thought I’d show you my new home. It’s very different from American homes, I miss lying on the carpeted living room floor and taking hot showers from the showerhead, but it hasn’t been a difficult adjustment. I’m thankful for what I have.

The Kitchen

The Courtyard - I stay in a room in the building on the right.

The Showers and Restroom - Showers on the left and restrooms on the right

My Room - It has one less bunk-bed in it now.

I hope you enjoyed the tour.

Talk to you again soon.

Love,

Joyce

Birthday...Ugandan Style

Hi Everyone,

Life has been busy here. An awesome team from California has been here since last week. I’ve been busy teaching and helping where needed. It has been great to get to know all the Californians.

I have also moved to Faith’s house, she is the director of Bringing Hope to the Family. Right now I’m sharing a room with 5 of the women from the CA team. It’s been an exciting time in our room. Today our light was finally fixed so we have light. We’ve been living by flashlight. According to some people I’m now having a more “African experience.” I have left the comfort of an in door bathroom to a hole in the ground and a real bucket bath.

It was a great blessing to celebrate my birthday here. We had the biggest party at Dorcas…I don’t know if it was intentional or if it just happened. I think it just happened. But we celebrated over a traditional Ugandan meal of millet, rice, meat, and my favorite part…a matooke birthday cake, which I didn’t get to eat, but I did enjoy the thought. I did enjoy serving it Uganda style and watching people's reactions. They either liked it or they didn't. After dinner we danced and had a great time.

But the fun didn’t stop there. When we came back from Dorcas the women from California planed a spa night. So, I enjoyed a foot massage and a facial that night; thanks to Kathleen the “Product Queen.” I have never laughed so hard in my life. Thank you to all the California Girls (Kathleen, Christine, Kristen, Anna, Karen, Jackie and Sandy)!

I also had the opportunity to help part of the California team put on a spa day to pamper many of the hard-working women of Bringing Hope to the Family. For many it was the first time to experience anything like it. The next day, I had a few of the local girls ask me to teach them how to give massages. I promised them I would.

It has been a wonderful this week serving with the California team; I’ll miss their laughter, excitement and love for the people.

I’m sorry I don’t have any pictures right now I’ll post them when I get them.

Talk to you again soon.

Love,

Joyce

La Gringa

The Cake

Hey Everyone!

I know it's been a while since my last post. The internet has been up and down this week; the terrorist bombs damaged the fiber-optic lines in Kampala, so the company has been repairing it this week. We are all well; we live 3-4 hours west of Kampala in the little village of Kaihura, so there is very little chance that we would be targeted.

So life has been good in the village. The first Embrace Uganda team left last Saturday, and another team arrives next week. So this week has been a week to recuperate a little.

Recently Dorcas had their third graduation ceremony; Dorcas doesn't have a graduation every year. They hold them every two or three years. This was the graduation for class of 2008 & 2009, so together they make up the class of 2010. There were 62 graduates in the areas of tailoring/design, nursery school teacher, carpentry/agriculture, general studies. It was a wonderful day for the graduates.

There were many speeches and gifts given and in the end there was cake. Only it was served Ugandan style. Normally we (westerners) would cut the cake into pieces and serve them on individual plates to everyone...Not in Uganda.

I was asked to bake a cake that would serve 80 people, so that's what I did. Little did I know that it would serve about 200 people. In Uganda, they cut a large piece of cake and put it on a plate. Then they proceed to chop it into little pieces, so that it doesn't resemble cake any more but a mangled mess. Then they serve it, and each person grabs a handful off of the communal plate and eats it with their fingers. (I'm grateful for forks, plates and napkins.)

Everyone enjoyed the cake; for many it was the first time that they had tasted a typical graduation cake. It was an unforgettable experience.

Here are some pictures of the cake making process.

There was cake everywhere. I burned 1 so I had make another batch. I ended up baking 10 cakes that day.

The cake was actually 8 small cakes put together.

I'm glad that I was not alone making this cake, Amos came and helped me from start to finish. We didn't have an electric mixer so we mixed everything by hand. He decided it was easier to mix the frosting African style...by hand. Thanks Amos; you're awesome!

It is amazing what you can create with a Ziploc bag...that's the only decorating tool we had.

Last but not least, the graduates walking in. They made their own caps and gowns.

Thank's for your continued prayers and support. Talk to you again soon.

Love,

Joyce

La Gringa