Africa!

Here's an update from David. He left Spain and arrived in Uganda last week:

June 4: We made it to Uganda at about 8:00 p.m. and then drove to where we are staying. While not 1^st world, there is a flush toilet and a shower. They wouldn’t pass cleanliness and safety standards in the US , but I’ve definitely seen worse. For breakfast this morning we had mango, pineapple, and a rice dish with spinach and beans. The people are very nice here… very poor, but very nice. There is a lot of garbage everywhere and a lot of smells are around that I have either never smelled, or not smelled since South America .

Today we went around to schools and met with headteachers to set up a time when we could interview them, some of their teachers, and their students. They seem so honored that people from an American University would be interested in coming to their school. The students have big smiles and big dreams. Many of them asked about getting to a college in the US . We are so blessed with the opportunities we have

June 9: Things are great here in Africa. We've been interviewing teachers and principals at several schools here and wow is it eye-opening. One of the principals we interviewed yesterday said that some of the teachers hired witch doctors to put curses and hexes on him. He was a little nervous about it. He also mentioned having teachers and students act as spies to get him information about what the other teachers and students were saying about him. Very interesting. There are also a lot of other very interesting and prevalent issues between male teachers/administrators and female students. Despite the craziness, there are also a lot of amazing and moral people here. We met with a headteacher (principal) today that I would love to clone and send back to the states. His story of struggle while sticking to principles is amazing.

I've been learning a little Lugandan. The people really love it when I start a conversation in Lugandan. Ugandans are extremely friendly and easy-going. Last weekend I got to go on a river rafting trip down the Nile River. It was amazing! The river is huge and there were some enormous rapids. Our raft flipped several times. There were several beautiful birds and monkeys along the river. Dad, I saw a few big fish rise. Apparently there are some gigantic fish in the Nile.

Church on Sunday was so refreshing. The testimonies and lessons were very heartfelt and simple. The unadulterated gospel is so powerful. These people have made incredible sacrifices to become members of the church and remain active. There are also a lot of cultural barriers that many of them have had to overcome. After church we went over to the source of the Nile River (about an hour drive) and took a little boat ride around the mouth of the Nile and a little bit of Lake Victoria. It is kind of surreal to be at a place I've heard of my entire life, but only seen on maps. That is where Ghandi had his ashes spread when he was cremated.

As far as the food goes, I've been eating a ton of pineapple and mango. For the main dish I usually get potatoes, or rice and avocado. Sometimes they give us beans and a tortilla type thing called a chapati. That is my personal favorite. I sleep under a mosquito net and take cold showers (which feels really good because it's usually pretty hot and humid).