Sick in Bed...

Being sick in bed is not fun. It is especially not fun in Africa. I have been confined to my dungeon of a mosquito for two days now. It has given me much time to reflect on why I chose to come in the first place.

Between my high fevers and painful movements (I have a nasty skin sore that is eating at my flesh...and yes, it is incredibly painful) last night I remembered this one experience I had when living in Romania a little more than two years ago. To those of you who did not know. I had the amazing opportunity to work with Romanian children in an orphanage and hospital. However, I wasn't allowed to post pictures because the Romanian government wants to protect them. Those of you who knew I went to Romania probably thought I was just on vacation...but I can assure you I was working every day. I have to mention first, that at the time I had absolutely no interest in having children. I wanted to fall in love with the world over and over again by traveling. It made me physically ill to even think about having children of my own. The only way I would ever have children is if I adopted, I was %100 sure of that.

So back to last night. As I was in bed I thought back to this one child in particular. I will tell you how we met first...

I met Peter on the second floor in a hospital in Romania. I remember the first time I saw my little angel. He was lying in his crib wrapped up in blankets even though it was so hot in there. So there he was, staring up at me with the most gorgeous deep blue eyes I have ever seen. The most perfect little child. It was love at first sight. Peter had been abandoned at birth and had cleft pallet on both sides of his nose.

He was four months old when I met him and he was staying in a room with some really nice Gypsies.

I saw Peter every single day after that for two and a half months. About a month after I met little Peter I walked into his room and looked over his crib. The second he saw me his whole face just lit up and he gave me the biggest smile. I picked him up and put him in the air (because I heard kids love that). Then it happened. One of the most pivotal moments in my life. He laughed. His first laugh. Little did Peter know what a profound impact his laugh had on me. It was so innocent and full of love that I understood. I understood why I was there, what I was doing, and most importantly what I needed to do. 

It was truly the first time in my life that I felt completely vulnerable. How could this little human being alter my thinking with such a small sweet laugh? It was because I could see the pain in his face up until the laugh. I could see his confusion in why he was in such a lonely place. I could see the pain that I had the pleasure of alleviating in those daily visits. For that small moment in time I had the strongest connection I had ever had with anyone (besides my parents) at that time.

Peter has made me want to be the best person I could possibly be. He has made me want to be the best mother I could possibly be (WARNING: THIS IS NOT A STATEMENT OF DECLARED PREGNANCY, I want to be a mother eventually)

This is Peter laughing. I was so excited when I was holding him that I didn't think to ask someone to take a picture.




This is why I am here. Because people like Peter need me and most importantly I need people like Peter. 

"I feel it in my soul"

The first day of my internship (Monday) I had the opportunity to help paint a map of the world on a wall in an orphanage. The man who owned the orphanage was named Dan and has an incredible story about how it all started. One day Dan was looking for art supplies but came across children who needed a place to stay so he legally adopted them. He kept adopting children and soon had an orphanage. He sends some children to foster homes but the foster homes are not too great so he is trying very hard to become more financially stable so he can get them back. He does this by selling his art work, having a garden to both feed his children and sell food for profit, and he also makes shoes out of tires. When we met with Dan he really wanted to plant a bigger garden and buy a motorcycle. They use motorcycles a lot for taxis. Dan wants to rent out the motorcycle so he can have daily income. We asked if he thought this was necessary and he said "Yes, I feel it in my soul that this is what I should do." I love this. I love that he feels things with his soul and acts on those feelings because they are the right things to do.

So Dan was able to draw the world and then we painted it. It took Dan 10 hours to sketch and it took us 7 hours to paint. Most children in the orphanage do not know what the world looks like. So we were able to help them a lot by painting it on the wall. They loved it!

Dan had recently adopted this four month old baby. He is absolutely adorable!!! 

I am so glad Dan was able to adopt this little angel. He found this little guy on the side of a river. When he looked around for his parent he was not able to find anyone that would claim him so he adopted him. 

So...I forgot to mention or rather start off with how I got out of my bed that morning...I didn't think it would be chill if I started off with that actually. Okay. So I forgot to tuck in my mosquito net under my mattress...and I was texting Josh when I saw something scurry out of the corner of my eye so I looked over and it was a GIANT cockroach!! I gasped really loud and tried not to belt out a curse word because people were still sleeping and I tumbled over the cockroach and out of bed. It was so gross!! I ran to get my roommate so she could kill it because I'm terrified of roaches. She came in and killed it with my shoe. 

Yep...there it is. Sad to say that was not the first time I've woken up with a cockroach in my bed. It happened multiple times in India. I was just really grateful there were no rats this time. So I also thought I would show you a super cute baby and then a disgusting cockroach. Barf. 

TUESDAY 

We met with a man who is a principle, hostel owner, and artist. As you are starting to get the general gist great Africans have many professions. Dan is wanting our help in building a latrine for over 700 students at his school and possibly starting some classes for the students. I am very interested in helping him do that as the students very much need it. 

The school we went to after that was surprising. Much like India their classrooms are very small. This classroom has fit 60-80 students inside. It is so packed that everyone stands while the teacher tries to teach the lesson. With competing voices in the next room it is very hard to keep the children's attention. We are trying to see if we could possibly help them build another school because not only is this school very small but the back rooms are very dark so it is hard to have class there. 

WEDNESDAY 

We went to meet with this woman who has a non-profit centering on a sort of girl's empowerment. She really wanted our help. She looked very overwhelmed because she was basically the only one going to schools talking to these girls. So she is really looking forward to seeing us again. We would just do some confidence training with the girls in the next few weeks.

THURSDAY

Today I actually used my sociology degree! We went to a village to do surveys to get to know their health needs a little more. I met a girl my age (23 years old). She had 3 children... She gave birth to her first child when she was 10 years old. When I met with her she was pregnant with her 4th and was a "co-wife." Interesting...

4 Days of Travel

After FOUR days of straight traveling I am finally in Mbale, Uganda. As some of you may know it has been a pretty intense four days. I first started off my journey with a drive from Provo to Tuba City, Arizona. Along the way I stopped at a gas station where the gas attendant told me that my tire was about to shred apart on me so I had to get it changed right there, so I did. When Dallas (our pet rabbit) and I got to Tuba City Dallas was really anxious to get out of his cage. Josh and I got Dallas about a week before that and decided to let my parents babysit him while I was away. So I managed to pack my things as soon as possible and visit the family. Then my sister and I headed to Phoenix. All together there was about 11 hours of driving.
Dallas Jr.

When I got to Phoenix I slept for a few hours then headed to the airport where I took a plane from PHX to Dallas. I got to my layover just in time BUT the flight was delayed for technical difficulties. So we sat on the plane for 2.5 hours. To make it even better there was no AC and a ton of crying children. This made me just barely late for my layover in London, where I had to rebook a flight through Kenya and then to Entebbe, Uganda.
This was actually my first sunrise flying into Kenya...

I actually made friends with this guy that was going to the same place I was so we decided to rebook the same way so we could be travel buddies. When I finally got to Entebbe, Uganda my luggage was waiting for me!!!! It was a miracle! I was so happy that it worked out. So Todd, one of my internship coordinators, picked me up and we took a personal taxi to a crammed public taxi that took us to a public bus. This was the bus yard...

After sitting in the bus yard for about 2 hours we finally started on the last bit of my journey. A drive that should only take 2 hours took at about 6. At that point I stopped looking at the time because I was expecting any delays. And of course about 45 minutes to Mbale our bus broke down! 

I am excited to start my first week in Uganda tomorrow!