My name shall be _________ today.

I have mastered the fine art of responding to any western name that people yell to me when I'm walking down the road.  There aren't very many white people in Kitgum and many people tend to think we're all related.  Even my boda driver always tells me about how he saw my sister somewhere in town.  And people are convinced that the two other Americans and I at Food for the Hungry must be sisters.

Anyhow, I walk down the road and I hear kids and/or adults yell various names (besides the typical "Munu!").  "Erica! Erica!"  "Monica! Monica!"  "Chelsea! Chelsea!"  Since it's harder to explain (especially to kids) that I am not in fact the white person they know, I wave and ask them how they are.

On another note, all the kids at the Centre have stopped calling me Munu and now call me Meg.  It's fun to walk   around and hear little voices yelling my name.  I want to bring all them all home.

School and Pretzels

It's a beautiful thing to have so many young women interested in pursuing formal education and vocational training.  I've been amazed by the way they've reacted to the possibility.

If I had life my way I'd fund schooling for each of them, their children, their siblings, everyone.  In the whole world.

I am trilled by the number of girls we will be able to send, but it's hard knowing that we can't reach everyone.  Right now we're trying to make some sort of waiting list.  It's hard to look at the stories of each of these girls lives.  Each one needs assistance, so how do you narrow it down?  Do you make someone wait because only one of her parents was murdered in the war and accept the total orphan?  Each person has been through so much.  Each deserves this.

So we're working through these lists and other things - and we're making progress!  I'm really encouraged by the work we've been able to do.  I feel quite comfortable with the people who will be guiding this project once I leave.


I also invited the interns to come and make soft pretzels tomorrow morning!  I have no idea if we'll be able to do it.  I've never made pretzels and we don't have measuring cups.  Haha I'll let you know how it goes.

Education Progress

So every day this week I have traveled to the field (AKA the 5 sub counties in the Kitgum district that FH works in).  I went to meet with girls who have been to the Centre in the past and had expressed interest in returning to school.  We narrowed all the possible canidates down to 50.  I've been able to ask them questions about what kind of school they want (high school (secondary) or vocational), for how long, who would take care of the kids etc.

The women are excited to have this opportunity!

I've also started writing out their stories so that we can start pairing up the girls with people who have donated from home - I know you are anxious to hear where your money actually went.  I want to thank everyone who has donated - I have been overwhelmed by the generosity of people.  I wish you could be there with me when I tell each woman that she's going to get a second chance at an education.

Today we had a girl named Ketty who has completed Senior 1 (which is higher than most of the rest).  We asked her what she wanted to go to school for and she said she'd do a 2 year course on computers which only requires that you finish P7 - but doesn't teach you enough to get a job with computers.  I asked her why she didn't want to complete secondary.  She dropped her eyes and said that she couldn't do anything.  I accepted that she chose this tech course but told her to think about secondary and to let us know if she changed her mind.  (This conversation was with one of our interns as the interpretor).

About an hour later Ketty called me over and confidently said she wanted to pursue her secondary education despite having a daughter and the father saying that she'd be no good in school.  The intern was so moved by her change of heart that she offered to give Ketty her old texts books and to help her with some of the tough concepts.  She spent about 20 minutes encouraging her.  It was great to see one girl who came from Kitgum and is now finishing at a university in Kampala encouraging another to see past the limitations that others have put on her.

I also had a ton of fun seeing people that were at the Centre last time I was here - they're shocked when they realize that they recognize me!



PS I met with one of our girls instructors today, we all talked for about an hour.  When we said we had to get going he sent his wife to bring us soda (yes, Pittsburghers I'm using the word "soda" not "pop").  We drank them and then said we were going to go again.  But he told us that the other two sodas were for us also!  If I've learned one thing about making a visit to somebody's home, it's that if you refuse something they give you it will extremely offend them.  So we looked at each other, laughed and sucked down another.  This was at 7pm, I drank two mountain dews on an empty stomach.  I am never sleeping tonight.

An Unfortunate Turn of Events

Dang it.  I had really bad hives all over my body last night.  I thought it was a fluke.  Tonight it's the same but even worse...

The only change in my diet that it can be attributed to? - Mangoes.


Short lived joy.

Mango Mayhem

I bought 35 mangoes for 93 cents.  I am very happy.

Bombs

So as much as the news about Uganda is all over the news at home, things in my part of the country are pretty normal.  Since there are few TVs, newspapers are uncommon and internet is even more rare, many are just hearing about the bombs in Kampala.  I was actually the one who informed many of the staff here this morning.

I've been to the Ethiopian Village restaurant, it's just down the road from our Uganda office and the home that I lived in when I studied here - maybe a 3 minute walk.  We used to watch football matches right across the street at a place that actually did pat you down briefly before entering.  The other bomb site is on the other side of town but I've been to the area for shopping and watching Phil's Frisbee tournament.  All the FH staff has been accounted for.

Some local staff from the UN were in our office this morning, they said that they have been aware that Somalia was a threat, they had previously threated the head offices of the UN and the World Food Program in Kampala for trying to bring peace to Somalia.  Uganda was targeted because they have peacekeeping troops in Somalia.

Also, interestingly the US embassy emailed me last week confirming my whereabouts in the country.  The email said they were just confirming that US citizens were within the region that they registered with the embassy to be in.  I have no evidence but I'm wondering if they had an inkling that something could happen.

Don't worry about my safety too much, no terrorists would hit the north.  It's too rural here and unconnected to the central government for the Somalis to try to make a point.  However, I don't think I'll be taking a trip to Kampala in the next few weeks for the peace of mind of my parents.

Also, one of the people injured was from my University - I don't know him but apparently is is going to be alright but has leg injuries.  So you can pray for him but also be praying for the families of those killed.  These people were completely innocent, they did nothing wrong except attend the biggest football match of the year.

Thanks for all the emails and concern,
Me

Safe.

If you've been anywhere near the news you've probably seen that there was a bomb attack in Kampala targeting people who were watching the world cup.  Right now it looks like at least 60 people were killed.  They're suspecting Somalian terrorists who consider Uganda their enemy.

I'm the most North that you can get in Uganda and Kampala is in the South so it wasn't close to me.  I have yet to hear if anyone from Food for the Hungry was affected.  The Ethiopian Village restaurant, where the first bomb went off, is just down the road from the FH office in Kampala.

I'll let you know more information as it comes.

Itye Maber?

-  I made a mistake -Washing all of my underwear last night without thinking about the dilemma between wet underwear and no underwear that I would have in the morning.

-  In other news, I deleted solitaire and all 5 seasons of How I Met Your Mother from my computer.

Today I traveled with Josephine to the school where her daughter is attending.  She's doing well in school but you can tell she misses her mom, being in a boarding school at the age of 6 has to be hard.  I don't know how so many kids do it, when I was 6 I was still a wild child!

I always find it fascinating to travel to the areas around here.  It makes you realize how hard it was to protect the people here from the rebels when they were attacking.  Previously, most people lived on their own plots of land with maybe 3 or 4 huts together. The next hut could be a half mile away or more.  Then think about the area around it; the grass in the bush can be 6 feet tall, which was easy for rebels to hide in and then attack the hut, killing the people, abducting them or stealing food and anything useful.

But now that the rebels are gone some people are moving away from the IDP camps and back to the former way of living.  And it seems to be going well for those who can afford to rebuild their houses.  Unfortunately, many can't rebuild or don't own any land (land passes through the paternal side of the family but with broken families due to the war, separation and AIDS, many have no inheritance).

This week is going to be crazy busy, I'm traveling to the field every day to talk with girls who are hoping to get into school with our scholarships.  I'm praying that we get the right girls and that this can really transform their lives.  Will update you soon.