Ebola and al-Shabab

Alright, late post from last week, and early post from this week.  I'm condensing the two into one.  There's a lot going on here in Uganda, and so I'm chilling out a bit for the next couple weeks.  But here's a full update:

I had a fairly productive week last week.  I met with a primary school deputy and a secondary school head master on separate occasions to discuss doing environmental programs in schools in the Gulu area.  They were both very enthusiastic about the idea and want me to start with their schools right away.  I wish!  Hopefully soon....  In any case they gave me some very valuable information which makes me excited to get started!  Still waiting on the boxes however....

After seven weeks of trying, I was finally able to bring stencils home with me.  As my new roommate pointed out, I could have made these ones myself, (frustrating,) but the ones I want, the ones I thought I ordered, I cannot make myself.  I felt bad for the time and effort he spent making these ones, so I bought them from him anyway, and now he's assuring me the ones I really want will be ready tomorrow.  I've been assured very many things in the last two months, however, so I'm not betting on it.  But it would be rather nice if I could actually get one thing accomplished the way I had planned....even if it does take seven weeks.

Lastly, I went with Living Hope to distribute some maka pads (made from the recycled paper!) to Pece Pawel Primary School.  It was exciting and fulfilling and energizing to see the end result of all our combined efforts.  There were two women from Living Hope, and the first thing they did was take one of the female teachers in charge of such things to the bathroom area.  They proceeded to have really important conversations about sanitation, water accessibility, proper waste disposal, etc.   These bathrooms were in pretty dire straights, but since they follow up monthly, I'm hopeful that some of these changes will actually be implemented.

Next they gathered all the girls in the primary school together and had more great discussions about hygiene and respecting yourself and modesty.  They didn't mince any words, and they taught in both English and Acholi so all could understand.  Of course since Living Hope is under an evangelical church, they discussed the gospel with them as well.

The girls sat as they do, staring blankly through much of it, giggling at the uncomfortable parts, and sometimes standing to answer questions in a very formal and polite manner.  They also sang us a few songs and smiled sheepishly at the weird white woman who had come along.  And then the Living Hope women passed out two packets of pads (each containing 10 pads,) to each of the girls.  They were happily accepted and I fully believe they will be used.  One of my friends told me this week that in some schools teachers do actually discuss this issue with the students, but often the girls have no means of feminine hygiene, so they will stay out of any public area for one week of every month.  Living Hope is changing that for at least a few women.

Painted on the side of a building at Pece Pawell Primary School

Early this week an older missionary couple from my church called and said they were going to Chobe Lodge for dinner, and would I like to join to pick up bottles?  I guess they had gone a few months before for their anniversary and had a discussion with the general manager about recycling.  He said he always takes his bottles to Kampala for recycling which is sometimes a difficult task for him to accomplish.  The missionaries told him about my project, and consequently, the lodge has been calling them regularly ever since to try to get us to come get bottles.  It's nearly a two hour drive away, so it is fairly unfeasible for RfH to take them on as a regular customer.  But it made for a really awesome evening, picking up a hefty load of bottles, eating some great food, and having an amazing view at that - all to the soundtrack of hippos laughing.

The room at Chobe Lodge housing all the waste bottles.  

The beginnings of loading the truck bed.  

Handsome Ugandan man hauling empty bottles.

Truck's full!  Thanks guys!

What kind of five-star lodge would this be without three swimming pools?  I'll admit, I kinda wanted to jump in....

The sun started to set as we were exploring the river before dinner.  

My friend Brenda and me, you know, hanging out with the Nile.  

Sunset on the Nile River. 

View at dinner.  

The hippos are now where we were 15 minutes before.  They seriously sound like laughing pigs, it's amazing.  

Sister Woods off-loading the bottles at St Monica's the next morning.  

Adding to the pile!

In other news, there was a HUGE Christian crusade in town last week.  I haven't seen so much hype (ie large trucks with over-sized speakers blaring music whilst driving all around town) since the presidential election last year.  They did it in this big open field, and had two evangelists from the western world, they set up an enormous stage and lots of lights and screamed about the devil and pronounced blessings and miracles for a nominal fee.  For FIVE days.  People bused in from surrounding towns to witness the saving grace of God as exemplified in a couple rich white dudes.  Because of this fever pitch and massive crowd gathering, we also had an al-Shabab scare.  Those are the Somali terrorists that bombed the Ethiopian restaurant in Kampala during the world cup two years ago.  The police raided this local pub here in and town and then illegally rounded up a bunch of street kids in town and stuck them in prison for the week since apparently they are a common target for al-Shabab to plant stuff on.  So me and everyone I know avoided public places for the week.  I don't know if they were actually in town, or if there was just a scare.  But better safe than sorry, right?

And it just keeps getting better.  Now we have Ebola in the country.  All the victims have been in the south, several hours from here, so most people in the north don't have much to fear at this point.  Solid numbers are hard to come by, but I've heard between 25 and 36 people have been diagnosed with the disease, and between 14 and 18 have died.  Lots of people have been quarantined, and we are keeping our fingers crossed that means it has been contained.  The World Health Organization and the CDC are here trying to get it under control because the Ugandan Ministry of Health seems to have been fairly useless.  The US embassy released a statement a couple days ago to be cautious and not to touch people at funerals, etc, and certainly not to come in contact with anyone showing symptoms - but as yet there are no travel bans or anything.  So yesterday I bought as much processed food as I could stomach and/or afford.  I'm not really afraid I'll get it through fresh produce shipped up from the south....but I don't really want to chance it either.  A couple friends and I are joking about quarantining ourselves together in a house eating food only grown and packaged in another country and not leaving until things are under control.  It's really a joke.  We all joke about it.  But we're all a little nervous as well.

Oh the unexpected adventures in Uganda.  I was going to head to Kampala this weekend to get my brochures printed off (there isn't anywhere to do it in Gulu - I searched,) and put the pressure on my box-making guys.  But I think I'm going to go ahead and wait out the weekend and see what the Ebola temperature is like next week.  I've been waiting all this time for the boxes, I can wait another week.....