Sunday, April 13, 2008
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Greetings from Kampala!
Greetings from beautiful Kampala, Uganda! The team arrived Monday afternoon and was warmly welcomed by Andrew Mutengu, Hood Luyima, and Moses Serwanga as well as Rotoract Charlotte. Our first night was in a bed and breakfast called Sophie's in Entebbe. Very charming place overlooking Lake Victoria. We have photos but not time yet to upload. Hood walked us to the nearby beach for fresh air and sunshine after our long trip. It was sure nice to be outside. We each took a boda boda ride on a short street with no traffic! All survived! Glad I had some motor bike experience with my brother.
Tuesday was spent at the Rotary office meeting a number of people, getting local currency at the Forex, lunch, and a visit to the internet cafe to let family know we arrived. The afternoon was spent walking around an outdoor market in Kampala. The spice area was especially interesting. We have lots of photos.
Our first team presentation was Tuesday night at Kololo Rotary. It was Jennifer's 33 rd birthday and the club signed a card for her and sang. Kololo must be another "fun club". Lots of joking and fun. Felt like Carmel Rotary. We met our host families at the meeting and went to our homes that night.
My host family is great. It is a very comfortable house, a compound really. Gudula is a professor at Ugandan Martyrs University about an hour and a half away. Long commute by bus for her after the boys are dropped at school. I am "sharing" my room with its owner, Bob, who is 5 years old. He is sleeping in his brother Bill's room but comes to collect his clothes in the morning. I have my own bathroom (Bob's) which is very nice. They are good kids. Dad Robert is completing his PHD in Belgium. He has been gone almost 4 months and will return April 24. The family is looking forward to his return. Will try to upload photos soon. Gudula (actually rhymes with "good luck")is wonderful. We have a lot in common. She is the type of person who would be a very active citizen in Carmel. Has a wonderful garden. We have fresh fruit and vegetables from her garden or farm everyday as well as pork and chicken. Today is her birthday I found out last night when she bought herself a birthday cake. We will celebrate again tonight by watching "Hoosiers".
On Wednesday we toured the Uganda Heart Institute at Mulago Referral Hospital. They are doing much with little compared to home. Thursday was spent at Taibah Schools. Again much being done with relatively little resources. Taibah is a private elementary and high school boarding school. Part of our day was spent at the public school located next door. The public school is an outreach project of the Taibah Interact Club. The high schoolers provide lunch for the very poor public school children. Since that service started the public school attendance has grown from 200 to over 500 students. They come for the meal. As for Taibah itself, its students speak 42 different languages and come from all over Africa. We had an opportunity to talk to some students. The hot topic of interestis Barak Obama! Everyone wants to know how we are going to vote. It gives us a chance to explain primaries and general election.
The team presentation has been very well received. We've been to 2 clubs this week as a whole team. The second presentation was at Kampala West Rotary. Carl and Lora went to one or two others with their host families.
I have been lucky to have some internet time this morning from Gudula's sister's office at the Ministry of Health. We are heading to Speke Hotel to join the team for a trip to an HIV center.
We have lots of photos but not convenient internet access at this time. Plus the electricity goes off about 10 pm each night. My host home switches to photocell storage when the lights go off so we have light. There is public water but also a big cistern that captures rain water. We had a heavy rain for about an hour yesterday morning just as I was leaving home. Would be called a real gully washer at home!
We are all well!
Tuesday was spent at the Rotary office meeting a number of people, getting local currency at the Forex, lunch, and a visit to the internet cafe to let family know we arrived. The afternoon was spent walking around an outdoor market in Kampala. The spice area was especially interesting. We have lots of photos.
Our first team presentation was Tuesday night at Kololo Rotary. It was Jennifer's 33 rd birthday and the club signed a card for her and sang. Kololo must be another "fun club". Lots of joking and fun. Felt like Carmel Rotary. We met our host families at the meeting and went to our homes that night.
My host family is great. It is a very comfortable house, a compound really. Gudula is a professor at Ugandan Martyrs University about an hour and a half away. Long commute by bus for her after the boys are dropped at school. I am "sharing" my room with its owner, Bob, who is 5 years old. He is sleeping in his brother Bill's room but comes to collect his clothes in the morning. I have my own bathroom (Bob's) which is very nice. They are good kids. Dad Robert is completing his PHD in Belgium. He has been gone almost 4 months and will return April 24. The family is looking forward to his return. Will try to upload photos soon. Gudula (actually rhymes with "good luck")is wonderful. We have a lot in common. She is the type of person who would be a very active citizen in Carmel. Has a wonderful garden. We have fresh fruit and vegetables from her garden or farm everyday as well as pork and chicken. Today is her birthday I found out last night when she bought herself a birthday cake. We will celebrate again tonight by watching "Hoosiers".
On Wednesday we toured the Uganda Heart Institute at Mulago Referral Hospital. They are doing much with little compared to home. Thursday was spent at Taibah Schools. Again much being done with relatively little resources. Taibah is a private elementary and high school boarding school. Part of our day was spent at the public school located next door. The public school is an outreach project of the Taibah Interact Club. The high schoolers provide lunch for the very poor public school children. Since that service started the public school attendance has grown from 200 to over 500 students. They come for the meal. As for Taibah itself, its students speak 42 different languages and come from all over Africa. We had an opportunity to talk to some students. The hot topic of interestis Barak Obama! Everyone wants to know how we are going to vote. It gives us a chance to explain primaries and general election.
The team presentation has been very well received. We've been to 2 clubs this week as a whole team. The second presentation was at Kampala West Rotary. Carl and Lora went to one or two others with their host families.
I have been lucky to have some internet time this morning from Gudula's sister's office at the Ministry of Health. We are heading to Speke Hotel to join the team for a trip to an HIV center.
We have lots of photos but not convenient internet access at this time. Plus the electricity goes off about 10 pm each night. My host home switches to photocell storage when the lights go off so we have light. There is public water but also a big cistern that captures rain water. We had a heavy rain for about an hour yesterday morning just as I was leaving home. Would be called a real gully washer at home!
We are all well!
Friday, April 4, 2008
Outbound to East Africa!
Tomorrow is the big day! We will be on our way almost half way around the world to see a small portion of the continent of Africa thanks to the generosity of The Rotary Foundation of Rotary International, Rotary District 6560, and our sponsoring Clubs - Carmel, Indianapolis, Indy East,and Kokomo.
Group Study Exchange (GSE for short) is a program of The Rotary Foundation. It is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for young business and professional men and women between the ages of 25 and 40 in the initial years of their professional life. The program provides travel grants for teams of participants to exchange visits with another Rotary District for 4 weeks. This year the exchange is between Indiana District 6560 and East African District 9200. District 9200 includes 5 countries: Eritrea; Ethiopia; Kenya; Tanzania; Uganda. Each team is composed of a Rotarian team leader and 4 non-Rotarian young professionals. The team was selected last September and has been busy since preparing for the trip.
We will be visiting Uganda and Ethiopia from April 5 to May 3, 2008. The inbound team members from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda will arrive in Indianapolis on April 5. Our paths are due to cross at the airport Saturday morning.
Our route is Indy to JFK; JFK overnight to Dubai on Air Emirates; hotel overnight in Dubai; on to Entebbe, Uganda, arriving Monday afternoon.
I have been emailing with my host family and look forward to meeting them.
Group Study Exchange (GSE for short) is a program of The Rotary Foundation. It is a unique cultural and vocational exchange opportunity for young business and professional men and women between the ages of 25 and 40 in the initial years of their professional life. The program provides travel grants for teams of participants to exchange visits with another Rotary District for 4 weeks. This year the exchange is between Indiana District 6560 and East African District 9200. District 9200 includes 5 countries: Eritrea; Ethiopia; Kenya; Tanzania; Uganda. Each team is composed of a Rotarian team leader and 4 non-Rotarian young professionals. The team was selected last September and has been busy since preparing for the trip.
We will be visiting Uganda and Ethiopia from April 5 to May 3, 2008. The inbound team members from Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda will arrive in Indianapolis on April 5. Our paths are due to cross at the airport Saturday morning.
Our route is Indy to JFK; JFK overnight to Dubai on Air Emirates; hotel overnight in Dubai; on to Entebbe, Uganda, arriving Monday afternoon.
I have been emailing with my host family and look forward to meeting them.
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