Lessons Learned

My family sent me to Uganda with a few special gifts: two books and a journal. One of the books, Water for Elephants is special-not only for its charm and ease of read-but also because I have given it to Molly to practice her English. By the look on her face when she received this book, you would think it was an original transcription of the Bible signed by God Himself! The second book, Eat Pray Love, has provided me with a platform to question and examine various aspects of my personal journey of self-exploration through reading about the author’s own journey. The third gift is perhaps the most special. This journal not only houses some of my deepest thoughts, it also provides the user with some of the greatest travel quotes I have ever come across. I am all for tying things together so they go full circle…as you know,  The Circle of Life was documented in a 1990’s film by Disney called, The Lion King, set in the very region I currently reside…My final blog will be strung together by some of the quotes I have found most suitable. I have mixed these quotes with 25 of my own lessons learned. 

To start us off: 

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.” –Confucius

1. Thinking back on my mental preparation for this journey, I recall a conversation with my boyfriend that went something like this:

Me-“Dan, everyone keeps telling me how brave I am to be going to Africa alone, but I hate that because I feel like a fraud for being so completely terrified!”

He wisely replied, “The fact that you are afraid and still eager to do it is what makes you brave. If you were fearless there would be nothing heroic about it.”

2. Months later, I now know that I am a lot stronger-mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually-than I ever gave myself credit for.

3. I’ve never been especially great at anything; always just decently good at most things. That is, until I came here. I think I may have been born for this work.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable” –Clifton Fadiman

4. Some things about Uganda are the same as they are in America. We all eat, shower, sleep, work, talk, raise children, and poop. The only difference is in the way we go about doing these things.

5. When people ask what I miss most about home I say I don’t know—because telling them that I really miss sitting in bed with my boyfriend while splitting an entire pint of Ben & Jerry’s and watching shows like the A Team online just seems weird to admit to someone who doesn’t know what any of that is.  

6. Americans have it so freaking easy! (Don’t bother arguing with me on this one, this opinion won’t budge.) Case in point: It took me about two hours and thirty minutes to hand wash two pairs of shoes the other day. This was my second time washing them—without wearing them in between washings. 

7. The “Let’s save Africa” mindset is useless. Most people here don’t need “saving.” They need what every human needs and deserves: Compassion, Assistance, and Understanding.

If you ever plan on coming to this continent, I suggest leaving the White Horse at home.

8. That brings me to my next point: Africa is a continent. Uganda is a beautiful country within it. Its people are no more Egyptian or South African than I am Mexican or Canadian.

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“The voyage of discovery lies not in finding new landscapes, but in having new eyes.” –Marcel Proust

9. Crystal Light is basically Kool-Aid for grown-ups and can turn icky water into yummy juice.

10. Mosquito nets are kind of like less fancy canopy beds that protect you from malaria.

11. Drinking a coke after a hard day’s work is as refreshing as a cold beer…well, almost.

12. Baby wipes are better for shaving my legs than any cream I have ever used. Seriously, try it.

13. Eating, sleeping, bathing, and pooping with bugs isn’t so bad after a while.

14. I’ve grown to see insects and bugs as things with which we must coexist. I don’t think it is right to kill them on the mere grounds of, “they were close to me.”

Unless of course the bug/insect in question is a mosquito, a spider in my bed about to attack, or a marching line of African Ants—in those situations, kill or be killed fully applies.

15. There are times when a rainstorm means there will be enough water to bathe, cook, and do laundry. They aren’t always about ruining parades and weddings.    

16. And yet, there must also be a balance between rainy and sunny days. The sun brings safer roads, energy for crops, and power in our homes. Not just pretty tans and picnic weather.

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17. Even when life is as hard as it can get, it is human instinct to Just. Keep. Going.

“Stop worrying about the potholes in the road and enjoy the journey.” –Babs Hoffman

18.…because someday [week six of my journey to be exact] the Ugandan Government may decide to send workers to fill the potholes and fix the road. Patience is a virtue…

19. The smiles of children can bring out the sun on a dreary homesick day.

20. Money isn’t everything. It is a lot of things. But not everything.

21. One trip to Uganda can’t possibly be “it” for me. I will be back. Probably soon.

22. I needed to live, work, eat, breathe, and love in this community to comprehend fully the power of community health. I look forward to embracing more communities like this throughout my career.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

23. I won’t be graduating this August because I need to retake one more course. I found out about this during my first week here—just after I held the responsibility of telling nine people they were HIV+ and then practically lying to them as I said it would all be okay.  

I’m not sure God/The Universe/Fate could have tried any harder to teach me the value of perspective that week.

24. I won’t be graduating this August, but I will be concluding the most meaningful, powerful, and treasured chapter thus far in my life. 

“The world is all gates, all opportunities, strings of tension waiting to be struck.” –Ralph Waldo Emerson

25. My next mini-chapter will involve a lot of planning, job searching and of course studying in preparation for my next journey, which I am certain, awaits me with gates, opportunities, and strings to be struck…

Thank you for joining me on this one! I look forward to seeing many of you in the coming weeks!

With love,

Kristen

PS: I plan to write a follow up blog about my experience re-emerging back into American society. There will also be a blog with more pictures when I return to America next week.

PO Box

Many of my friends and family have asked if there is an alternative method of sending us payment for the dormitory fund. Due to popular demand, we have established a PO Box in Vancouver, Washington that will be used for the specific purpose of fundraising.

If you would like to donate by sending in a check made payable to Future Diplomats Education Centre Foundation, please address the envelope to:

FDEC Foundation
PO Box 65141
Vancouver, WA  98665

Thank you for your support!

With love,
Kristen

GOOORRILLLAAAAA!

So much can be said about my trip to the Bwindi Impenetrable Forest. If you have never heard of the great Silverback Gorillas of Bwindi, stop reading and Google them right now!

You back? Okay…well there are only 300 of these gorillas left in the world and they can only be found in three locations. Nine families live high in the mountains of the Bwindi Rainforest. The Ugandan Government limits the number of visitors who enter the rainforest each day. If you wish to partake in a Gorilla Trek, you must pay the Ugandan Government $500 for a permit (good for one hour of gorilla viewing). Then you must find transport to Bwindi, which is a nine-hour drive from Kampala. I was fortunate to have a cousin who absolutely insisted I see these notorious gorillas of the Rainforest. He also acted as my travel consultant and sponsored my trip (He is really just that incredible. I’ve already started planning a grand adventure to take his children on someday…)

I had been looking forward to this trip for weeks and on Wednesday, July 27^th I left my village for Kampala so I would be in an easy location for my 0700 pickup time on Thursday morning. My little body tried to change these plans though. Wednesday night I work up every hour in a hot sweaty daze and felt like I was a dried out sponge. Being the intelligent health educator that I am, I chalked this up to feeling dehydrated and I drank two full water bottles and went back to sleep. In the morning, I still felt miserable and I finally accepted that I had a fever. My cousin played nurse for the next hour and we were able to break my fever.

Then we literally had a life or death decision to make. Do I skip the trip (the non-refundable, un-repeatable, un-re-schedulable trip) and go to the doctor in case I was experiencing the beginning of some crazy African disease? OR: Do I ignore my symptoms and travel 9 hours alone to the border of Rwanda and the DRC where I will have no cell reception, no computer access, and no hospital to fall back on?

Well, if any of you remember the Kristen who went to class the day after her emergency appendectomy…you won’t be surprised to hear that I went with the, “ignore all logic: live a little!” route.

No regrets.

My travel group consisted of our slightly aggressive and extremely opinionated driver named Joseph, a lovely couple not much older than me from Denmark, and my disease-ridden weakling self. Quite a long drive, but it really was great company! Most of the drive was on a decently paved road…until we arrived at the bottom of the mountain. From the bottom to our lodge was about a two-hour drive up a narrow, rocky, and pot-holed road. When we [finally] arrived to our lodge, the staff greeted us with warm towels and tea. Since I felt ill, I drank enough tea to be polite and then left for my room and took a nap until dinner. The rooms were all scattered throughout the rainforest and it was absolutely beautiful! Yet, (despite my cousin’s warning) surprisingly cold! Our first afternoon it was 10^o C [50^o F but I have been in 85^o-90^o heat for the last two months] and it dropped even lower after dark. Our dinner was served on an outdoor canopy patio and we were treated to an authentic rainforest storm. If you have ever been to the Rainforest Café while the mock thunder and lightning storm takes place, then you already know what this was like. Only, it was much colder than the restaurant. Very fun. We were all giddy about how incredible it was to go from no rain and clear skies to total darkness and torrential downpour. The lightning would flash so bright it felt like I had looked into the sun, and then one M-i-s-s-i-s-s-BOOOMMM! It was so cool. However, I hardly ate a bite of my meal because I really did not feel well at this point.

The hot water in the hotel did not work, so I took a brief ice cold shower after dinner, and jumped into bed dressed for a snowstorm. Thankfully, the hotel provided a hot water bag that was waiting for me in my neatly tucked back covers. I didn’t get much sleep that night because my body decided it liked the bathroom better than my bed.

Despite the fact that my mystery illness had clearly worsened, I was still very much determined to see the gorillas. I put on my, “No, really, I will be fine” face and started my day.   

The drive to the starting point took about a half hour. Much to my dismay, we stopped at the bottom of what felt like a very long hill and we half jogged up to the top. At the top, the lead guide gave us a talk about rules and regulations. The strongest point he made was, “If you have had a fever, vomit, or diarrhea in the last 24 hours, you cannot go to the forest. We are closely related to gorillas and as these are an endangered species, we cannot risk spreading disease.” All I could think was, “NOOOOOO!”

With great difficulty, I walked up to him after his talk and with tears of disappointment and defeat; I admitted I had these dreadful human malfunctions just this morning. I accepted that I could not go. He looked at me as if I was crazy and/or stupid. He and my driver sat me down and said it wasn’t that bad and I should stop being so weak and go for the trip of a lifetime. I was so confused, yet, also very relieved! I hired a porter (a local who carries your bag and helps you during difficult parts) who was my saving grace. After about ten minutes of hiking up a mildly sloped hill, I felt like I could collapse. I just kept thinking, GOOORRILLLAAAAA…..! My body was shaking, I was sweating, and my head throbbed as if I had a concussion every time I ducked it down. But, GOOORRILLLAAAAA!!! My porter was incredible. He walked in front of me and broke off low branches to prevent them from hitting my head. He carried me by holding one of my hands up the insanely steep mountain slopes. My favorite was when we stopped for breaks, he kicked into the nearby bushes until a box-seat formed and then  disappeared into the forest to return with big fern leaves, and sat them down on the “seat” and said, “Here, Madam, please rest,” as he gently sat me down like a little girl.

I am not usually the kind of person to allow doting. In fact, I hate when I am vulnerable. However, I am a realistic person and I recognize that without that man I would have missed seeing the gorillas. By the end of the first hour, I was so weak that when we stopped our forward momentum, I could actually feel my legs shaking and if I focused on my hands when he was holding me up, I could see them tremble. I do not think I have been that sick for years. Of course, it would happen in the middle of the rainforest.

People say many special things are “once in a lifetime.” I tend to take that with a grain of salt because every day comes once in a lifetime; I try to appreciate each one. After three hours of cutting new “shortcut” trails into thick bush, climbing up 90^o angle mud hills, fighting off African ants in my pants, getting attacked by a swarm of wasps (which left my left eye swollen almost shut), and witnessing views of the rainforest that have only been seen by a few hundred other people; after all of that, we were told we had reached the gorillas. We had to give up our walking sticks, backpacks, and porters to climb the final hill where the gorillas were resting. I stumbled up the last five strides up the hill and out of nowhere, a mother and her child came into view. I stood only four feet away from the duo as I watched in awe the tender, peaceful actions between them. My camera went crazy. Then one of the trackers summoned our group up to a higher point on the hill. Initially, I thought it was to get a better glimpse of this mother and child, but as I emerged from the plant-covered slope, I saw a family of majestic gorillas resting under a tree. Two teens playing in the tree (at one point one of them intentionally peed on the others on the ground and laughed about it), one silverback in the distance doing what looked like arm curls on a tree branch, one injured silverback hid in a bush, two mothers with two more babies, and the alpha male Daddy silverback sat quietly under the tree. Eleven gorillas total.

Despite my swollen eye and trembling hands, I managed to take about 100 pictures. Of course, only a handful is worth showing. Be aware, thee pictures were taken from only five feet away.

NOT zoomed...!

View from the top of the mountain at the gorilla site

View on the way down from the mountain

My Danish travel-buddies, Henrick, Melina, and me at the Equator on our way back to civilization

I just do not know how else to explain that day: it was truly once in a lifetime.

With love,
Kristen

Of course!

I traveled to Lwaaje Island last week. This was a much different trip than last time. Our party consisted of Jja Jja, his friend Sam, a veteran Volset volunteer from Australia, an American from a nearby village, and me. Our goal for this trip was to evaluate a cash-return program implemented in 2007. The “return” part of the program never happened and we wanted to find out why. This was much different from lining people up to test for HIV.

The trip out there was a….unique experience. We were carried out to our boat and I foolishly sat next to a block of ice, which meant as more people crowded into the boat, I had to squish closer and closer to the now melting block of ice. After 30 minutes of sitting idle, we asked Festus why we hadn’t left yet. He said, because the boat is leaking and we were going to switch boats. Of course it is leaking.

All these people are in our little boat

 Then almost immediately after our inquiry, we start leaving the shoreline. Uh, Festus, why are we leaving in a sinking boat? Oh, because the boat we are switching into is in the middle of the lake without any more fuel. Of course, we are now rescuing our rescue boat.

Then we almost crash into the boat in the middle of the lake and somehow float away fine. Once we get them fuel and drive back to shore, we have to walk from one boat to another while still on water. Of course we did.

It only took about two minutes for me to realize this new boat has a big hold in it right beside my leg. Of course, it leaks the entire two and a half hour ride. 

It was a beautiful ride

We had good company! Me and Jja Jja

From the time we got on the first boat to the time we arrived to our island was about five hours of travel. Then it took an hour of us standing around before we were taken to our rooms. Despite the blanket of bugs lying on my top sheet, this “hotel” was much nicer than the last. Most of the walls were whole and there was a protective layer of cardboard covering the holes. Classy. A little bit of 95% Deet bug spray killed the extra blanket and I was able to lay my mosquito net on top so I didn’t get anything too nasty in the night.

My luxury suite

We waited for almost an hour for Festus to return with food (it was about 8:30 pm now) but we decided to go to sleep and eat breakfast in the morning. Forty-five minutes after I curled up into my cocoon sleeping bag, Festus knocked on our doors. He brought us sodas and chapattis but only Kathy was awake enough to open her door, we all thanked him but said we would eat them in the morning.

We didn’t think about the rats. Kathy set the chapattis down on the floor and as soon as her light went out, I swear I could hear every rat on the island scurry in from every nook and cranny for a bite of our Chapati. I could have slept better!

I woke up early to a beautiful sunrise in the distance. Since our Chapati was out of the question, we drank the soda and ate pistachios for breakfast as we watched the fishermen come in from a night on the lake. 

We only waited another hour for Festus to return and he brought us to a restaurant that served us Chai tea, rice, beans, and Chapati for real breakfast.

The restaurant we ate each meal at

As we finished our breakfast, it started to drizzle and a nearby man (who had been watching me creepily lake a hawk) opened a sort of storage shed for us to stay dry in. No more than five minutes later, God released the floodgates and every drop of water in the Earth’s atmosphere came down from the sky above our island. Insanity is the only word I have for this rain. We couldn’t see outside for an hour because a sheet of water fell down in every direction. I am from one of the rainiest places in the world and this was a lot of rain to me!

Then it stopped and within minutes, we were on our way to do our evaluations. This island was so baron that all the villages are found along the shoreline. We had to locate 16 participants but due to death or relocation, we only found seven. Great information from them thought. All that walking and talking took us the whole day! When we finished, we decided to explore the island and we found an incredible lookout point.

Sam, Me, Tony, and Kathy

Our trail to the other villages

The look out point

The toilet!

On the last island, we used one shack-like outhouse for the toilet. It was a hole in the ground with four panels of wood around it. This island didn’t have a hole in the ground. It had ground though…the problem was that it was so baron we ladies had to walk about a kilometer just to find some privacy…or just wait till dark and go anywhere.

Despite the obvious poverty on this island, it was still a beautiful place. I realized this trip that I am fortunate to get a glimpse into their world. Very few people who travel to Uganda ever get to see these islands. There are islands they visit because of resorts, but few people get a sneak peek into the true Ugandan island life. 

Eating a freshly picked pineapple from a grateful client (sorry it is sideways)

Jja Jja and I after a successful day of work!

It amazes me how the in-your-face poverty, dirty room, lack of toilet, and billion marriage proposals hardly phased me.

Such a pity I leave so soon. 

With love, 

Kristen

Goodbye Children

End of term has arrived for the primary and secondary schools. I am so sad I can hardly stand it. The primary school is like a ghost town. Only a few orphaned children remain. I didn’t know end of term meant they would leave for three weeks. I didn’t get to say goodbye.

…All the more motivation for me to return to Uganda soon…

With love,
Kristen