Happy 80th Mom! Remember the party we had for you when you were 70? I do, dad was mad at me the whole time I made him keep the secret. Then he drove like a mad man to get you to the party so he didn't have to keep the secret anymore. And Cindi was pregnant with Lexi! Happy birthday Lexie!
I wish I was there to spend time with all of you celebrating. Rather I am in Aura. We got our site announcements Wed. and got a bus ride Thursday to the area we will be for our term of employment. There are 46 trainees and we are evenly divided into community health and economic development so we are known as the CHED volunteers. We were all given assignments throughout the country. There are also education ones serving too but they come at a different time. So, 6 education volunteers are in the area already and we will get together with them tomorrow evening for supper. The job I received is being a Health Instructor at Aura School of Comprehensive Nursing. Guess the orientations I helped with at Sleepy Eye are going to come in handy. The job purpose is to instruct and give supervision to trainees during lectures, practical lessons and community outreach. I meet with the principal of the program and the person who will be my counterpart (go to person) in the organization Sunday. Until then, the 7 of us assigned to West Nile where Arua is have been having language immersion. First we had a 7 hour bus ride to get here on Thursday. The area around Wakiso and Kampaula where we have been is very high hills almost foothills but the further N we came the flatter the land got. As we crossed the Nile there were elephants out eating along the river. Reminding me again, I am in Africa. I don't know why I forget. The ride was long but the countryside is very green and the landscape has more open space then I have seen previously. Aura town has no infrastructure so there is trash everywhere and the majority of the people are subsistence farmers. The countryside houses here are the huts you would see on Wild Kingdom when I was a kid. Round structures about 8 feet high and a thatched roof forming a peak. When we drove into town the school of nursing is affiliated with the area government hospital. Government hospitals here often run out of funds before the end of the month but this one has the European Unions support to run it and it was beautiful. It is a large complex with grass, separate ward buildings, living quarters, sidewalks connecting and a large fence around the whole area and guards. Reminds me of the VA grounds in St Cloud just add a couple guards and razor wire on top of the fence around it. Security here is taken very seriously. The banks ATMs have armed guards at all of them. I think Tom said the guns are middle eastern made. So far haven't seen them used on anyone. Hoping to keep it that way too. The place we are staying for our immersion is great. We have our own room with a flush toilet and hot water and sprayer so you can take a hot shower. It is bliss. Tom and I are running the hot water out. Just having our own room is great. Privacy. The short king size bed with the foam mattress is nice and mosquito net is delux and all for the low price of 46,000USH ($16.63) This includes bottled water and breakfast omelet and passion fruit juice or corn flakes with milk. It is also right next to a golf course that the cows & goats mow. A whole herd were there yesterday. The area officials live next to it, so, the security here is very good. We keep hearing that and our teachers walk us everywhere so I wonder who they are protecting us from? Today we went to the market. Did I mention it is rainy season and when it is raining it is cool about 55-60 and when it isn't raining it is hot. Like 80 with some humidity. Even the teachers are sweating. We were go to market and talk and bargin but everyone wanted to speak English to us. ( Good for me but the language test is coming soon so I am going to try again tomorrow) I didn't see any beautiful fabric but right now I don't want to have anything else to haul around so I wasn't disappointed. We are going back out tomorrow, hopefully earlier before it is so hot. We are staying about 2 miles from the market and we walk everywhere which is ok unless it rains, which it is doing now. Our hotel windows overlook a garden and stage where there is singing until 11 and the Ugandeans love loud music. They themselves speak very softly but they love loud music. The power here is better regulated because there is a dam on a river that generates power for this area. But, the internet is not very good due to the rain. I don't know what the connection is, but I am hoping to have my own modem soon. Not that that will help as it is rainy season. More to come...
