Last Post

Hey eveyone, so this is the last post that I will be writing before I head back to the States. I have a little less than a week left in Uganda and will spending my remaining time in Kampala, the capital city.

Just a few updates: We have elected our village health team and it consists of five of the most dedicated villagers, they have so much motivation. My only hope is that they can keep that motivation in the upcoming year. I really believe that we made an impact in the village. We have made many connections within the county and sub-county districts.

We have officially moved out of Bugabula, it was sad to go, but it is our time to leave and put give the power to the people to improve their health by implamenting the things we have taught them.

I not going to lie and say that it is going to be easy to come home. Don't get me wrong I am very excited to see everyone but I feel like two months is just scratching the surface of we could be doing. It will be very difficult to leave, I have fallen in love with this country and it's people. The work we have been doing has become very close to my heart and I desire to continue on with it in the future.

Ghandi said, "We must be the change we wish to see in the world"

I believe it is my goal in life to be that change, hopefully one day I will be able to accomplish this task.

Thank you everyone again

Love you and see you soon

Wrapping Up

Hello hello!!!

Okay so the countdown is officially beginning: only five more days left in our village and only 8 more days until I leave the country. It makes me sad to think that my time is almost up, this experience has been absolutely amazing and I wish I could stay longer but all good things must come to an end I suppose. Yesterday was a very big day for us because we have finally established a Village Health Team. We have a group of five villagers that will be trained by our Sub-District Health assistant so that they may continue to look after the health of the Village.

So things are coming to a close. This weekend we plan to go to Jinja to see an Agricultural show and support our fellow UVP volunteers that have stand there showing off traditional African clay pots.

Anyway, really not that much more to update, just keeping busy and getting ready to come home.

I do want to thank everyone again who has taken time our to keep up with my blog. All of the comments are greatly appreciated. Thank you to everyone who has supported me, both spiritually and financially. Words can not describe how blessed I feel. A thousand times thank you, my only hope is that I have made a difference, no matter how small.

Love you all and see you soon!!

New Updates

Hello Everyone!!

I know it has been a while since I have updated, but we have been very busy lately and with only two weeks left we have a lot to get done in order to leave our village in a sustainable position.

So here is what we've been doing:

We had one more adventure the weekend of the 4th at Sipi Falls. It is a tourist destination that consists of three absolutely beautiful waterfalls set inside a deep valley. It was gorgeous and a lot of fun. We went hiking and ab sailing. Ab sailing is basically repeling down the side of a water fall. It was about 100 meter drop and amazing, I have a ton of pictures.

After that weekend it was back to work, we had a busy week of moblizing for our first HIV testing day which occured last Friday. We had an amazing turnout. We got over 100 people tested and are having another testing day this Friday so we can test people who were unable to attend the first one. We are all very excited that people have gotten the message of how important it is to know your status so you can protect yourself and your family.

Since we only have about two weeks left in the village we are working very hard with the district to train a Village Health team: a group of people we can leave behind to continue to teach about preventative health. We are drafting letters and holding a lot of meetings. We already have a few very willing volunteers in our village which gives us great hope that our message will continue to be taught to the future generations.

Thank you again to everyone who has kept my group in your prayers, we really appreciate it and are working hard to make you all proud.

I can't believe that the time is almost up, I feel like I've been here forever but at the same time like it has been too short. It will be very hard to leave but I am excited to see you all and show you all my pictures.

Love you all

Hey

I first want to say thank you for everyone who has been reading and responding to my posts I really appreciate it. It definitely helps keep me going knowing that I have all these wonderful people behind me.

So now for an update. This week has gone really well, we had a HIV/AIDS sensitization on Thursday and it went really well, people were very interested and wanted to learn how to protect themselves. We are currently working with a nearby secondary school to establish an Anti-AIDS club for students so that they can sensitize others. We have full schedules everyday but we still manage to have some down time to play with the children in our village. They are absolutely adorable (dont' worry mom I won't bring any home although I am tempted haha) We have a safe pregnancy workshop this upcoming week and then next friday we are having a HIV testing day in the village. This event is huge, we are trying to fight the stigma of HIV and get people to know their status so that they won't pass the disease on to others.

We are going to have an exciting weekend though. We are headed to Sipi Falls for a camping weekend and rock climbing. It will be good to get to relax and get to see a bit more of this beautiful country. I wish I could put into words what the landscape is like, so amazing, hopefully all my pictures will do it justice.

Anyway I got to go now but I love you all and see you soon.

p.s. dre and kriselle read your facebook messages

pps. mom read your email and i will try to call tomorrow around 12pm