Mom Does (Did?) Uganda

My mother visited me for three weeks in November, but it honestly felt and still feels like she visited for only one. Time is a funny thing here in the U.G. It’s hard to believe that the next day or so marks the fifth whole month I’ve spent here. I feel like I am in some sort of time warp and I believe that time warp has all to do with the weather.

During the last four years the seasons played a significant role in my ability to tell how much time has passed. First, there was pre-season. Summer time in the dirty jerz is hot, humid, and disgusting to say the least. Then fall slowly crept up and everyone arrived on campus. A few short weeks later, hoodies and light jackets came out. The middle/end of fall was characterized by unpacking the big guns, AKA the 500 down jackets I owned. The months of December, January, and February seemed like an eternity. Then the wonderful month of March hit and towards the end of the month my puffy jackets were back under my bed where they belonged. By April I was on the slip and slide.

This year, I haven’t experienced any of that and the next few months are the hottest I will experience, not the coldest. It’s really throwing me off.  Today is December 14^th and it’s still 80 degrees out. Every day I wake up and can’t tell the difference between the weeks or months – it all just mushes together. In my head I believe it must be the month of July since it’s so hot. And next month when it’s extremely hot again it’s still the month of July. I can't believe it’s December until I see some snow…

Anyways, even though it felt like far less, my mom visited Uganda for 20 days. Here some highlights from her visit accompanied by pictures:

PRIMATES. I have a weird obsession with monkeys as I’m sure you all know. During the course of my mom’s visit, I fed (wild) monkeys straight out of the palm of my hand two different times! That’s two times more than I have ever before. Not to mention I just saw more monkeys in general than I have ever before. Oh, and I went chimpanzee trekking. Yup, I followed their calls, droppings, and prints throughout the forest to find the little suckers. Then I got to hang out with them for an hour and half.

Feeding some monkeys

Feeding more monkeys

Chimp

 Food. They say nothing tastes better than your mom’s cooking and I can attest to that statement, especially when you’re in the midst of perfecting and expanding your culinary skills (read newbie) in another country on another continent.

SWB Uganda Staff enjoying some Persian food

 Four day safari/trip around western Uganda.

nap time

Natural hot spring

Thanksgiving. Last year was the first time in eight years that I celebrated this holiday at home in the Bay.  Before college, I spent Turkey Day in sunny San Diego for a soccer tournament. During college, my parents came out to the East Coast and we celebrated the holiday East Coast style with my brother who lives in NYC.

Anyways, the point I’m trying to get at is that it wasn’t that weird celebrating Thanksgiving so far from home. The weird part was getting our turkey. A turkey dinner is one of my favorite meals, so I obviously had high expectations and needed a fix for my four month withdrawal. The day before the feast, we ran around town (read the city) in search of a turkey. We began in a grocery store where the price of a frozen turkey was too high, and we somehow ended in an outside market buying a live turkey and a live chicken for our feast. Ugandan style if you ask me.  Of course they were not alive anymore on the motorcycle taxi ride back to our house. We spent hours cooking the next day (read my mom with a little of our help) and dinner tasted better than I could have ever imagined.

The turkey and the chicken

     American Candy. Yes, that’s a highlight. Four months of no sour punch straws/sour belts can really get to a person.  

The new classroom. I saved the best for last. My mom left her own mark on SWB Uganda by fundraising for and initiating the construction of a new classroom at our center. 

Soccer Without Borders Uganda has been growing like crazy over the past few months. While this is extremely exciting, it proved to be difficult at first. Our classroom is very very small. We have been teaching 60+ kids in a room smaller than the size of my common room last year. Words cannot express how difficult it is at times to teach a classroom of that size. Just trying to manage them is a crazy task in and of itself, and the language barrier that exists doesn't make it any easier. Now the size of the classroom is another thing. Towards the end of our classes, there are always a handful of students peaking their head through the windows or sitting outside as close to the door as possible to hear the lessons. There simply just isn't enough space for everyone to sit (or should I say squeeze) in the classroom. 

After seeing this for a few short days, my mom decided to make some moves and start the process of building a new classroom. Since our arrival, Katy, JC, and I have discussed the potential of a new classroom countless times and now our dream was becoming reality. After 27 days of construction, the building is now finished. Well, almost finished...We still need to paint the new desks and paint a logo on the back. Nonetheless, we have a new classroom at SWB Nsambya. The organization has had a tremendous impact on this community over the past few years and this new classroom enables us to continue this impact even as the number of participants rise. 

One of our coaches told me the other day that the building symbolizes trust. I was confused at first by what he meant and then he explained: "Our program is a school for the children we serve and the construction of a new building shows that we are working hard to educate the youth. Many of our participants do not attend school. For many it's because they cannot afford a formal education, and for others it's because they are refugees and do not speak English. Beyond financial demands, integrating into the school system in Uganda is difficult for refugees, especially for refugees coming from the Democratic Republic of Congo like many of our students. School in the DRC is not taught in English, but rather in French. That has proved to be difficult when refugee children try to integrate into the Ugandan school system since school here is taught in English and they do not speak English. The new classroom builds trust between our organization/mission and the families we serve. Parents trust us to educate their children.This building shows that we are serious about it."

Laying the foundation

Putting the iron roof up

Timber and roof going up 

Timber and roof are completed!

Painting

Kids sanding the desks as coaches paint the inside

Coaches finished painting the new room

New desks

Kids pretending to be in class

The kids pretending to teach

Right now we are on our holiday break and will reopen the center in the beginning of January. In the middle of January, we plan on opening the new classroom. Thank you so so much to all that donated to this project. We are all very grateful for your contribution!!!

Having my mom here was an amazing experience. It was a special three weeks that I will always remember. Thanks for traveling across the world to see me, mom!

Mom jumping the rope

Here I am posting a few weeks late again. Sowwy. I’m taking off to Tanzania tomorrow for some island hopping and a little R&R before we undergo our five day festival in early January. We are estimating more than 250 kids from 8am-2pm all day err day during this time. More on that soon!

I wish everyone a safe and joyous holiday season!