ewaffe

my home

First off, thank you for the support. The kitchen is almost completed. The community will have to provide a few more things after I leave, but overall I am confident it will be completed in due time. It is too bad I won't be able to see the completed structure while I'm here, but I have been able to help them out a lot. Email me at jankte01@gettysburg.edu with your address if you contributed so I can send you a craft made with thanks from the students at Kyabakuza Primary School.

Yesterday was the hardest day for me here yet, being my last day at school. The school had a special farewell day for me, including 3 song/dances performed by my class. I was bawling the entire time. Most of the class held their tears until afterward, except for a few like Kawuma Frank, the top student in his class and the first to break. It was so hard to think that I may never see some of them again, and that it will be so hard to keep in contact. I had them each write me a letter as their final homework assignment, so I'm going to send them to myself here and be pleasantly surprised when I receive them. Additionally, I received a record number of gifts. Over 70 avacados, lots of passion fruit, some bananas, 5 huge stalks of sugar cane, tomatoes, a banana fibre doll, drawings, a pineapple, a beautiful woven mat, among other things where piled on my desk by the end of the day. A teary eyed parade of children helped me transport them to my house.

I return home so soon- I leave Monday from Entebbe. It is crazy to think how fast my time here has gone. I have enjoyed living in this village 20 minutes south of the equator, and I even more have enjoyed all of the Ugandans that have become my best friends. I have lived in such a different place here, and I'm glad I got a glimpse of how people in Uganda live.

What I am excited to get home in the US for:
*toilets and showers
*smooth roads- let's just say I have bumped my head on the ceiling of a matatu one too many times
*certains foods life chocolate, hamburgers, and sandwiches
*sleeping past 6 am
*having dinner before 9 pm
*movies
*being able to spend an hour on the internet and get more than one email sent
*trash cans and recycling bins- unfortunately, Ugandans don't appreciate their abundance of attractive scenery

What I will miss most from my hone in Uganda:
*my host siblings: Joey, Andrew, Charles, and Helen. My best friends here. I will never forget the days I spent playing outside the house with my brothers, nor will I forget the times talking with my sister.
*my class, particularly: Kawuma Frank, Mugerwa Innocent, Naula Stella, Segirinnya Ashirafu, Ddumba Frank, Ssabwe Tom, and Mutyaba Tony Ivan
*the green, green vegetation all around
*riding on boda-bodas (like motorcycles)
*inexpensive food... being able to buy lunch for 2 weeks for less than $5
*spending time with the students at Kyabakuza Primary School at breaks
*the passion fruit (katunda), different types of banana (matooke, eryenvu, gwonja), sugar cane (ekikajjo), many types of sweet potatoes (lummonde), and the big, green avocados (kedo)
*my sister's Irish potatoes (bummonde)
*hearing 400 beautiful children sing the wonderful Uganda national anthem every Monday morning
*tea breaks, and the 3 heaps of sugar they put in my tea at school (I will not be able to put so much sukaali in my caayi in America)
*the weather- sunshine every day, with the occasional 30 minute shower
*the full moons and starry nights
*Luganda
*Spanish soap operas dubbed in English
*the joy and amusement kids here get out of things like running around with a plastic bag behind them or pushing a tire with a stick
*telling 108 interested eyes about America and showing them pictures of the so faraway land

Ngenda koma eka. I'm going to return home. In a few days, I return home. But hopefully I will return home sometime in the future.

the train of students helping me transport the many parting gifts given to me
me with 54 unhappy students
the class dancing a traditionall farewell dance
Andrew and Joey having fun
Kyakuwa Joseph Vanviker learning how to type and use my laptop