Road to Gulu and SAFARI!

So I am weeks behind, but all this downtime in airports has to be good for something... so after throwing the event of the year, we had to leave our little safe haven in bujagali and headed up to gulu, making a few stops for some "pitch" investigations along the way. The drive is somewhere between 4 and 7 hours.. depending on who you talk to and who is driving. The weaves between boda bodas and bikes full of bananas is nothing short of an adventure.. or slamming the brakes so we dont fly into the truck full of cows with the longest horns you've ever seen. The countryside drive is so different, and relatively so inhabited compared to ourss.. obviously on a different level. How far are these people willing to walk to the market or the water well everyday? And aren't they bored yet of watching the cars drive by? Apparently the road is in wayyyy better condition as it has mostly been paved since the FUNDaFIELD group travelled up here last year when the entire drive was still dirt. This is like the only highway, and it was only paved last year.

Heading to Gulu didn't mean much to me at first.. I didn't completely understand what had happened in the area. I've heard there was some type of war going on not too long ago and there was a crazy man name idia yamin.. im sure thats not even close to the correct spelling. and the invisible children were these child soliders that were killing everyone. thats about all i know.. and definitely couldn't put the pieces together until the long trek up there..But it was worth it. When we finally arrived at night to our hotel after turning down a handful in sketchy allies and streets, our waiter Alfred told us he could take us around tomorrow. We had some meetings with other groups that wanted to work together for our first field up in Gulu, one being some connection to the Buried Life. But we decided to go with Alfred in the morning. First we went to the camp where his family and community had been moved. As long as you ask questions, they will answer, but its hard to ask the right ones so that the information pieces together. There were many orphans running around, being the children of killed parents and such. Someone in the village just takes them in as their kids. It was around 2006 when Alfred's family was forced to move to the camp for protection. Not even 4 years ago. None of the villages in Northern Uganda were safe as soliders of the bad guys crew were kidnapping kids in the night, and shooting anyone they saw. The camps were smaller confined areas that were protected by UN soldiers. After tourning through the camp, many people have now made that their homes, and many will not move back to the villages out of fear.. even though it is now completely safe. Alfred moved into the city because he still has nightmares of being captured from the village. So next we went to his village, where basically his mother and probably 3 others had just moved back to. The lifestyle was similar, just with much more space. they had a hut (made of hardened poo) for the kitchen as well as another one nearby as the house.

As we drove back into Gulu, we asked Alfred if he had ever seam yamin. And he told us stories of others seeing the man and his apparent red eyes. hes like a ghost that haunts the area. Alfred, we learned, had been kidnapped from his village before his family was moved to teh camp. He was a child solider for a year and half, although he never shot his gun. He didn't know how, and he was too afraid. But he went with the system, and eventually escaped one night with his brother.. they ran and ran. And he moved to the city, which is not a city like you are thinking. it still has dirt roads, chickens everywhere... garbage on the streets.. and this town has had soo much attention from the UN and USA since the invisible children movies that showed what life was like here. It was crazy how much this affected everyone up here. So we went back to the hotel and rested.. caught up on sleep, i tried for a little tan, and then come nightfall we had a few meetings and drove around to see some more 'pitches' .. the soccer field locations.

The trip to Gulu was short, but well worth it. And on the way home, we were able to stop through the Matchison (sp) Falls National Park where we went on a SAFARI! ... in our minivan.. everrrrryoneeee tries to charge the muzungus for everything... after bartering our way in with a soccer ball, and being able to pass for 14, we went in the back old janky gate that we could've driven around if we wanted to just drive through the tall grass.. maybe they would try to shoot us down though... you never know around here..

so within minutes of entering the gates of the park, we saw giraffes grazing on trees, kobs and all types of deer like animals hoping around... warthogs (pumbas), and eventually a few elephants. Our driver, Hassan, was definitely no safari driver, but he got excited seeing some animals because this was his first time on safari too.. ugandans just dont go on safaris all the time... let alone never. So he would randomly speed off after talking to other drivers and slam on the breaks looking for more water buffalo and such. It was pretty awesome. we also made it to the falls just in time before the sunset... spending hours driving in the wrong direction looking for them. they were sooo cool. so big . loud. powerful... and almost better than niagra.. because we were like the only ones there.. watching the sun set on the nile once again :) rough life i know. So we headed back to the red chili where we tried to sleep in our mossy nets and failed quite a bit. im sure if i got malaria on the trip, it was from that night.. sweating profusely without electricity for the fan.. and waking a lot to see if the hippos were coming up to graze on the grass.. too bad the lady told us the next morning they dont show up til 7:30 in the morning... not at 2:00 am.. back on safari across the nile...we headed to waterhole where we were certain to see many animals in for their morning drink.. We got stuck waiting for a WALL of waterbuffalo- i have no idea how many were there.. 300? 500? 700? they strectched for like a quarter of mile across the road... and we eventually shoved them aside. i was excited to drive through, and the boys were freaking... they must've really known the power of those guys or something else i didn't.. so we saw the hippos moving things in teh water from a distance because the van couldn't get too close... and i was forbidden to leave the car, understandably.. but there were people outside and i wanted to get closer!.. always. just as we were heading out, we caught word of a lion..and so the hunt began as we drove illegally off the path and through the tall grass looking for the lion.. we found her, all but asleep under a tree.. safari mission complete. only thing left wouldve been a panther! that would've been reallly cool.. o and of course we saw 392045u713235u2 babboons allll over the road. we were stoked for the first few driving up to gulu..and we were completely board with them by the time we were done on the second day.

Jinjas event if the year

The next morning began bright and early as we prepared for our tournament. I walked the distance with kyle and Greg to kybirwa primary school where the funda-field had been built and our tournament would take place. The 30+ minute walk was awesome, slipping in the muddy trails that wined through trees, crops, and mud huts. I was excited to see the field, to finally be able to grasp what it is fundafield is doing and what we are doing here in Uganda... Not that i needed an excuse.. Anyway, One side had been dug to level the field and made a nice lip for the spectators to sit on and overlook the field. The concept of building the field at a school is great for a few reasons. First, the kids at the school take pride in the field, because fields are few and far to come by. They plant the grass seeds and take care of the field to make sure it stays maintained/ the admin is supposed to regulate it. It also allows kids from multiple villages to take advantage of the futbol field that is so sacred to every one of these kids.

So, as African time goes, the tourney "started"'at 8, we showed up about 9, and the first team showed up at 10ish. Having the field at a school encourages also gives the kids a good reason to hang around the school and learn.

So the plan of the tournament: 2 days, single elimination, with 8 teams to start. Day 1 is youth/ under 14 and day 2 is 14 and up. Every team gets 13 jerseys for it's 13 players and the tournament winner for each day gets a goat. Yes a live goat tied to a short rope. I'm not sure what the value on a goat is in the states, but here it's around 100,000 Ugandan shillings and is a symbol of your status. So the goat is a great prize, and defnitely worth putting your best team together for. We payed extra for the loud speaker system, not sure if it was a good investment, but thought it would make the tournament more official and bring more people in... The thing is, all you need is a soccer ball under your arm and in about 73 seconds you will have a swarm of kids following you. Soccer is a way of life here, and it is amazing the power a sport can have.. I'm not just saying this, I have now witnessed it first hand, two days in a row. Although the second team wasn't able to check in until close to 11 because they only had 3 kids, by noon we were turning away teams and the tournament was officially underway. (and for some reason not 1 player out of the 104 (or maybe it was closer to 200 after we saw kids swaping jerseys and such to play) participating could even pass for 14.... We rolled with it. This is Africa, and there is only so much you can control.

The first day was hot, veryy long and tiring but so wonderful. I couldn't believe the number of people that came from far and wide to watch. By early afternoon, I roughly guessed there to be 1,000 people of all sizes and ages and English speaking abilities surrounding the field, cheering ever so crazily and loudly everytime their team scored a goal. Most of the women had sleeping babies just tied all over them.. The ladies jumping around didn't seem to care they were there and the babies didn't seem to mind their heads bobbing up and down. the teams followed our brackets well it seemed, knowing who was on the field next.. I was sure this would be the toughest part if the organization. Seeing soo many happy, thankful people was the best part.. Next to handing off a goat and medals to the winners. We never did get to sleep that night because once you rent out the loud speakers for 24 hours... They dont stop bumping til it's time to wrap them up. So yes, the high energy African music was the life of bujagali until 6:45 when it moved back to the field. I don't think anyone slept a wink.

The second morning started much more promptly with the "u14" teams we had to turn away lining up at the school at 8. If nothing else, we taught 26 kids the importance of showing up early and on time... A concept non existent in the rest of the country. These kids wanted to play. 6 of the 8 teams came to play before the first game even started. Now that's what I'm talkin about. Today is gonna be better. Well everything was going soo smoothly apart from peeing in the school hole and getting the annoying kids off of me. My personal space bubble popped at somepoint and it was hard to hear another muzungu cry. Both semi games went into pks, and the thousands of fan crowded ever so closely around the penalty box...forget standing on the sideline. There were kids in trees trying to get a better look. All was good, goal for goal, until one guy kicked before the whistle. On his re-kick he missed and sent the crowd hooting and hollering. The next guy just had to make it to seal the deal to the championship.. After the whistle, the ball hit the left then right post and bounced out. It got wildddd and crazy. Half the people yelling goal, and he other half not. The refs had no idea, so us muzungus, in our futbol knowledge, explained that if it hit both posts and bounced out, there is no way it couldve been a goal. The ball didn't cross the line. someone claimed it hit the back right post and bounced out.. And so the debate continued for a while. The defending team decided to lead a squat in the middle of the field, refusing to budge until we agreed that their goal counted. Moses, the school principal was on the soundsystem. He managed to get the squatting crowd off the field while I made my debut to Ugandan soccer. I kept hearing muzungu, all the way from USA, muzungu missed.. It was crazy. I think that was the moment I've been waiting for since a child to be the star of the field, but I never expected it to be so awkward, nonetheless starring on the Ugandan field. Basically, I was the only one of the 21 girls who knew all the rules or about field poisitioning. All I know is that I played position 10, which is a striker... There are no wings, centers, attackers.. Just numbers. And to make the show better, I scored the first goal for our SOUL team. I've never been pounced on by so many (stinky) people. The other team got two lucky goals as I ran out of steam playing 10 different positions and my girls stood and watched, but they had fun... And for the rest of the visit, I was the local celebrity among the girls. Hahahaha. They'd point and say futbol muzungu.

So it was time to finishhe pks for the other semi, but the one team ran out a squatted the field as soon as we were done again. In true Ugandan reasoning and style, the squatting team refused to move, and the other team in the semi settled for second place, leaving the winner of the first semi as the goat winners of the day. I think that's what happened. We were all so tired and drained from the hot sun that we gave up fighting the stubborn locals. I can't believe that we didn't play the final game! They just agreed on a winner, and once they got their medal, they'd hand off the jersey to a friend to get him a medal too.. We thought ahead and only brought 13 medals, debating with each one who actually played. Wow. No American kid would let someone else get a medal if he didn't play on the team.. Maybe were selfish?

So tired from booming music and 2 straight days of hot sun (that made us muzungus peel like a snake) we tried to sleep again... But as always there's Something else we didnt think of.. An earthquake and heavy rain. The rain pellets sounded like golf balls on the tin roof and I sat wondering how long it would be before the roof caved in. I guess I got lucky it never did. I've never felt such a big earthquake before, an well never know how big it was because of course they are very uncommon here and they don't have the tools for measuring. Every mud hut looked untouched the next morning so maybe all that rolling wasn't as big as I thought... Even though I felt like I was surfin on my bed.

Christmas in the Ugandan kitchens.

After sorting through the menu of whats included for breakfast (basically everything but anything with meat or cheese, or the fruit because first they'd haveta go to town to buy it... So what's left?!) we began our Christmas journey down the road to the falls of bujagali. We hadn't made it the full ten minute walk before it started raining heavy drops and ever so suddenly a downpour. So we stood under a tree looking around, and the people from the shack below started waving us in, so I fled to the shack and the rest followed/slid down the already muddy hill closely behind. we piled into the building to find out it was actually a kitchen that cooked food for all the rafters. We cleared to the back and Kira took a seat next to this big ol lady stirring her Xmas chicken in a fryin pan over an open fire stove. What we hoped and thought might be a few seconds or even minutes turned into over an hour of the hardest/second hardest rainfall I have ever witnessed... That one in panama this summer was pretty rough! So we took pictures out the window, talked with the 'chefs' and discussed why I wouldn't have 17 children like the rest of Uganda, or why I haven't quote:'reproduced yet'. O the beautiful girl discount days are almostt back.. If only there were things to buy in the kitchen! Ha. What seems like a complete disaster and almsot waste of a late morning turned into an awesome and unique adventure... How many people get to hang out in a local kitchen waiting for a rainstorm to pass over the source of the Nile!? The rain eventually simmered enough for us to venture completely out to our original destination. The rapids looked decent in the rafting videos we saw over dinner the night before, but watching a crazy kayaker go down them in real life made me look like a completely sane person. The rapids were nearly huge and the little man in the little kayak was nearly tiny. So after our longer than expected morning adventure, we headed back to the Hotel and sorted items for the tournament that would take place the following 2 days. I helped make sure the colors and sizes of the donated jerseys worked out so that the same color teams wouldn't play each other except for possibly in the final game. I will explain the tournament and setup in the next post. So we organized and got dressed in our fundafield attire and headed down to the SOUL shack where this girl Brooke is working on helping the kids of the community. We had visited Brooke at the SOUL shack the night before breifly, meeting all the kids that were moreee than excited to see new muzungus in their little village. So as we headed out of bujugali, took a quick left down a dirt road, and walked maybe only 5 minutes and we were in a while new world. The shack is livable for American Brooke, with electricity from generators and an office and small tiny little third room that functions as a kitchen/storage room. Since we were such a big hit the night before, all the kids were back again to celebrate Christmas with the muzungus. Christmas is a big deal in Uganda, but of course is on a completely different level. From what we gathered from quizzing the kids on their holiday festivities, we figured Christmas means dressing in your best clothes and having a feast of rice and meat for lunch. Some of them said they take a christmas swim in the Nile, but it obviously is at a different spot than we were at all afternoon if it was true. (they lie about the weirdest things) There are no presents, no Santa, no wreaths or red and green and tacky decor. Just celebrating and an occasional branch posing as a Xmas tree, often decorated with lights and the holiday cards they receive. I think they appreciate hand typed cards vs. We appreciate hand written cards..

Anyways, what were we doing at the SOUL shack? We were cooking a spaghetti dinner for Muganda and his family.. The fundafield group had met thus boy and his family last year, and had wanted to cook them a meal. There are 17 children in this average family, with 3 wives. I'd say they are better off than most because Brooke has helped them as well. So we were really just cooking for the family, but it felt like the whole village! Cooking for them was a special experience in itself... Thank god we brought the pasta noodles and a few random ingredients from the supermarket stop in Kampala. We would've been rolling out dough in the dirt for the noodles otherwise. I think the whole pasta cooking process took somewhere around 2 hours for us inexperienced african cookers instead of the 9 minutes it takes at home on the stove. Step 1: go to the well and get some water. Two of the boys and I took some Jerry cans and jolly as our helper to lead the way. It was only about a half a mile to the well, but it took us 15 minutes each way (at least) to swerve through the jungle path, pick eggplants as our stoppers/lids of the Jerry cans and avoid slipping on the crazy wet path. Getting to the end of the path brought new little faces and calls of muzungu! Muzungu! Of course again. So the boys took turn pumping the water, having trouble pumping at a consistent speed so the water flowed out in the same spot. It probably took another 20 minutes for us to fill the 2 five liter bottles and the 2 one? Liter bottles. There is no actual sense of time out here.. Basically the sun fully set during thus whole fetching water process. Jolly taught us various ways to carry the water- on the head (ouch) with two arms, and like a sack of potatoes over the shoulder. I just had a one liter most of the way as I w as responsible for photographing and filming. By the time we got back, everyone was like what took you so long!? They were just standing around waiting for us because the kids told them it was a 5 minute walk.. And for them it very well may be. For us clumsy and incapable muzungus, it took close to an hour... Maybe even a full one. I dunno if we could survive fetching water 5-6 times a day. Luckily during our water journey, a small fire had been made by the remaining fundafield crew for the pasta sauce creation. There was no pre-made sauce at the grocery store. So they poked and pryed the cans open without a can opener to get the tomato paste out. We had local little onions and some pasta seasoning to add to the mix as well. So Riley stood there and stirred the pot of sauce.. This is officially the biggest pot I have ever seen. I got put on water watching duty in the unannexed kitchen room that Brooke helped build onto the house. Yes a fire was started in a closed and contained brick/ mud building with no vents except the door. Little sula was super shy but wanted to touch me (us muzungus are good luck you know) he hung around until he opened up and eventually sat on my lap as we waited for the new biggest pot of my life to boil. The water came to a slow boil at somepoint, the noodles went in and we finally had the dinner ready! Wahoo! So we lined up in a big assembly line, brushed off our 'clean' plates with the under sides of our shirts and had a feast. Luckily Brooke had enough utensils for all of us, since everyone else just used their hands. I've never in my life cared about using hand sanitizer, and let me tell you, I've almost gone through the whole bottle on the first week. The kids loveddd slurping up the noodles.. Most o them didn't know what spaghetti was til now. After dinner, we had a box of sour patch to pass around.. I think we enjoyed their facial expressions as much as they enjoyed the candy. Sour taste is also clearly a first for these kids. So we had a fun night with the kiddies and I went home with a head of dreads... My blonde hair is a hit along with my white skin.

Landed in Uganda!

After our forever and a day touch down in Ethiopia, we got off our final plane in Uganda!! Whooo! 23 hours of flying is a bit tortureous, even with a nice break in Dubai. At any rate, the air is warm and humid, but not too hot (thank god) and has the third world charm of burnt trash lingering in the scent.. Yes. I'm stoked. There is something soo exciting about the smell, I guess it's the smell of a new adventure. We wait in line to go through passport control, which is really just buy your $50 visa control. While waiting in the mess of a line, I took Kira to the bathroom (the only other 'girl' in the group at 12.. But she is a very mature 12 year old and fun to be around) at any rate, while I was waiting for her I noticed someone struggling to get out of the stall next to her. Eventually yelps and little shrieks starting coming too and I almost had to laugh that someone was stuck in the bathroom. I went over and tried to help, but I couldn't budge the thing either. The woman was definitely starting to panic as there was no way to crawl under or over really. I don't think her English was so hot, but after almost ripping the stall door off, I realized we had to get back to the passport line and I told her I was calling for back-up. I told the luggage man outside to go rip the door off in there, he looked very confused, and I'll never really know if he went in there or even rescued the lady.

So like Dubai, the exiting security was a joke, as we all lined up and stuck our bags and boxes of jerseys and soccer balls through another X-ray machine. The black people just walk on through. I am only allowed to call them that because they call us mzuyungu... Aka white person! (this always includes a finger gesture of sometime.. Usually just one pointing at as and chanting.. Sometimes is a bad wave which means don't even think about taking a picture of me bud, and on one occasion it was the middle finger.) so the clan of mzuyungus headed ou the airport and met up with isaacs brother, mark. Isaac is kinda like our local conductor of the trip... Sort of. Hes our part organizer to help with local logistics.. But I just made him sound wayy to fancy. We headed out of Entebbe toward Kampala (the capital) where we would spend our first night at a little guesthouse just a few streets off the hustle and bustle. It was above my expectations (which yes can be extremely low) hosting a fairly legit breakfast and a weak wi-fi signal in the little checkin room. Everything was super nice and clean, the shower was hot, and the bed even had a nice drapping mosquito net. Not too shabby at all. We headed to the mall where we got dinner and some groceries for the dinner we will be cooking soon. The food court seems at first like a reallly lame cop-out of a first meal in Uganda, but as a few of the people on the trip already knew (they've been here a few times) , it def was not. as soon as you sit Down at a table, a person or two from each of 7-8 little circling restaurants attacks you with a menu. Within 5 seconds of seating, there were definitely 30 menus sprawled across our 8 person table, with a Ugandan over every other shoulder and the rest standing back slightly as spectators. I learned quickly that like many other countries the personal bubble got left back in America. I was cracking up as they each try to put their menu infront of you and point to their favorite dishes... Which are def the ones I would never order... Sorry the cheeseburger on the 'Lebanese' menu and the grilled gizzards are not my first choice. I'm always down for an adventure, but imagine the rapid increase in sales any of these people could have if they suggested things that somewhat interested you. Anyway, after all the pointing and pushing, we all sat there like what the hell did I order? We ate and pushed our extremely still jetlagged bodies down stairs to get some water and our pasta materials the grocery store is one of my favorite local experiences always.. Here is an opportunity to really see how the locals go about their everyday lives and be a part of it. Well, this experience was a little like that time in the Egyptian grocery store, where there are people EVERYWHERE and chaos fills the air. Granted, it was like 8 o'clock which sounds like a good shopping hour (vs in Egypt we were there at midnight and it was packed) but I could reallly pull up a chair in any supermarket and just people watch for days. I grabbed a mango, but had this slight hunch that I was supposed to pre-weigh it somewhere like in Europe, but in all the chaos I thought I'd just wait til checkout to find out. I love the back of the grocery store where they have fabric, tall heaps of suitcases for sale, and random other items you would never in your life see at Safeway or Albies.
Well, that was about enough excitement for one afternoon and evening, so we worked our way back through the traffic of Kampala to our guesthouse (it's just the word for hotel here) and I had many flashbacks of being in Bali. The smells, the crowds of hectic people and the busy dirt roads of honking cars, swerving motorcycles, and people carrying ridiculous amounts of weight and objects on their heads and shoulders must've all contributed :).

The next morning started really early with the stupid jetlag wake up call of 3 am. I managed to lay til 7 before hoping in the bucket in the shower.. I felt so good and comfortable in that shitty shower that I laughed.. It was clean and good by Africa standards I'm sure, (I mean it is my first one here but I can just guess) but I had to laugh at how great it felt. We gathered our lives, called home with my last 57 cents of Skype credit on the wi-fi--mom that's why the call ended.. I toldddd you to get on Skype, and had some brekky and were all ready to go by 9, our anticipated departure time, but at morning #1 in uganda, we forgot to factor in Africa time. So we hung out on a bench, Kira did my hair, we discussed buying goats vs cows for the winner of our upcoming tournament, how the tournament would work, etc etc etc until about 10? 10:30? Who knows. The only reason we know what time it is is because we all have iPhones.. Pathetic Americans. Ha ha. I'm yet to see a single clock anywhere on this trip... Not even in Dubai. No wonder no one gets anywhere on time! Eventually issac and our driver Wilson rolled up, and then we headed to the slum to check out the poor of the poor.. No one knew how to get there because no one ever goes there,, so through the traffic and people pointing us in different directions, and through the gangs past experience of being there, we eventually made it through the "jammin" (traffic) .... La might have nothing on some of these roads. We strolled looking for this guy, eventually found his store, and found out he was gone for Christmas. There is an overwhelming amount of christian influence here, so christmas today should be interesting!! Ahhhh! Merry merrry Christmas! So strange. So anyway, for the rest of our christmas eve, we wandered and gathered quite the crowd of little Ugandan children. They all just want their picture taken so the can see themselves on our cameras.. It's probably the first time many of them had seen their own faces. Some demand things, expecting that when white people show up, they give us things. So, through the Weiss' experience we tell them to give us something first, to hopefully send back some sort of message that white people dont just show up with gifts and give them to meet the 5 year old's demands. They are cute little buggers though, and so welcoming and happy.

We next started our trek to luganzi, where st Andrews secondary school is and thus the field we are building. We took some 'backroads' to avoid traffic and it was really cool to see the different villages we rolled through. Some were having these crazy BBQ parties where there were grills cookin up a storm, and sellin pieces of chicken on stick by the bundle down the street. This may seem strange, but it seems the only way to sell anything is to stand on the road and weave between cars. Whether it be sticks of chicken, live chickens held by their armpits, plastic Christmas trees, or bamboo sticks for herding your cows? I loveee the 3-5 story chicken cages piled randomly on the side ofthe road its like a crowded chicken condo where you go to get your Xmas dinner. When you pick out your dinner, you carry it home by the feet or under the armpit like a purse. We stopped at a gas station for lunch because we were starving.. Our stomachs haven't shrunk yet! I think it was actually a restaurant attached to the station, but the cook was out, so after trying to order everything on he menu, we asked what we could eat,, basically everyone got pilau and meat.. By process of animal deduction, we decided meat is goat. That's fine. Goat is alright. And pilau is tasty rice. Some had this m---' something that is banAna mush... Also as we were eating, the radio advertisers rolled in for some petrol, and I realized that noone even flinched. This music was BLARING and everyone just carried on with life. If someone with a quarter of that volume rolls in to a gas station at home, they are greeted with discerning stares and a whole lot of rude judgements. Here, it's life... Just mind your own. We eventually got to st. Andrews after having to walk up the muddy hill. It was super cool to see the school and the field that is about to be mowed over in a few days. This will be fundafields 8th field. Right now there is grass on a slanted hill with 3 sticks stuck together as the schools soccer field.. I can't wait to see how it's transformed soon! We found more Ugandan babies to photograph.. I'm wondering if we will get over it in the next few weeks or if I will have a photo of every child in ugandA by then!

We were supposed to tour isaacs village and see the sixth field fundafield built but due to Africa time, we headed to bujagli where were staying for a few days and holding the soccer tournament on one of the previous fields fundafield built (the fifth one). what a trip..this place is REAL Africa.. I say just what you would picture in the jungles of Africa.. One dirt road with a few wood shacks barely standing lining their way to the onlyy attraction for miles and miles in any direction (the source of the Nile). Where we are staying at Eden Rock is inside the gate.. But just like Bali, don't even think of trying to head down to the falls without first backtracking to the guard booth. The guard sports a gun and it up for big debate if it actually has any bullets in it. So, we arrived safe, went down to the rafting/backpackers bar, had some din din and off to sleep we went.. Or so we tried. The last night of jet lag didn't have me up til 4:30 with the roosters and the growling large animal outside our door. It sounded like a wild boar, so in a debate if I should go check it out, or try fall back asleep, I couldnt resist the anicipation of my first real African wildlife (other than the HUGE ibis like trash eating birds that stand at least 4.5 feet tall) and fled to the window. Shame it was just two dogs, and even a bigger shame thru were growling over lisa's shoe they stole from the porch. Good morning Christmas in Uganda.

Pitstop in Dubai

Back on the road/ in the air and it feels as good as ever! Dubai is as over the top as anyone could hope it to be.. I wish we had had more time for exploring.. As always. Let's say the adventure began right in the airport, where huge white columns make the passport counter look like were checking into the belagio.. Don't forget the little christmas tree subtly stuck in the corner decorated with 20-30 flat screen tvs.

Although the jetlag of a 16 hour flight was trying to wear us down, we stumbled out into the great desert to see some awesome architecture on our little tour with the taxi man as we made our way to joes place. I was super excited to see Joe as he is basically the only Australia friend I haven't seen in the past 3 years.. Good job Ashley! We stopped for photo ops in front of the largest building in the world and in the jumeirah where we had awesome views of the burj al Arab (rooms start around $2,000 a night). Everything visible glows And glitters in the night.. It's hard to not be impressed. We wanted to go out to the altlantis on the palms.. The manmade islands right next to the world islands, but we were super duper late meeting up with Joe and his friends. So after rolling past the palace where the president and each of his wives have a house on the grounds, and learning that cab drivers can get a 1000 Dirham fine for not having their shoes shined or their name badge showing, we made it to joes and met his whole crew.There were people from alll over, his roommate a local and his friend a stanford grad who will be heading to Uganda after us. Small world. He lives right next to the mall of the emirates where the indoor snowboarding is. There is also a mall to scuba dive in but I think that's the other one next to the tallest building... It's hard to keep track of all the tallest biggests and firsts around here. O did I mention that all the was in the living room was a giant like 6 person tent popped up and furnished inside!? Ha. Also learned that there are no taxes.. Not even on income, but everything costs a shitload, so it evens out. And your race determines what type of job you can hold.. Filipinos work the front desk of hotels, middle easterners drive the cabs, etc. Just in the newspaper this morning, chinese were approved to be housekeepers. Some things are reallly backwards here.. Kinda like the Muslim in full get-up taking shots at the bar. We all made it over to the closed up souk/mall where the few bars on the river were. And then we learned that the drinking age is actually 21 instead of the expected 18. We made it work for the most-part.. Shared a big bowl drink of who knows what , had a few laughs and before you knew it it was after 1 am and we had to get up at 5:30 for our next flight. Since I was the big kid incharge, I had to get the boys home so our journey was so shortly ended.. And off to bed. On the plus side waking up was no problem, it was staying asleep from 2:30 to 5:30 that was rough. I think I've only slept 9 hours over the past 3+ days.. Maybe it's been 4 days?

We got to the airport where security was a joke and a half...and then I helped Kyle find Joe across the airport to get his shorts back since he had to put on a pair of jeans for the night before. We trekked across like 3 malls within the airport, found Joe again (it was his last day living in Dubai) and turns out his forgot the shorts. So we trekked back and almost missed our plane.. Except not because none of them leave on time.. now were just chillin on our next 7 hour flight to uganda with a touch down in Ethiopia! Can I count it on my country list? The airplane man thought it'd be cute to photo us all in the stewardess hats... I tried to get the photo on here, but I'm
Having difficulties.. Sorry!


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UGANDA OR BUST!

For my faithful readers (Bonnie :) ) the occassional stumbler, and those who might be concerned, I am no longer heading to Swaziland to walk across the country. SOS decided their camera crew wasn't ready or something of the sort, and has postponed the walk til June/July.. I'm completely unsure if I will still being doing that or if I'm still invited to.. only time will tell!

anyway.. FUNDaFIELD, the local charity I am now apart of, that was supposed to accompany the Steps of Swaziland project, has decided to go ahead with its Africa journey anyway, and with a little rush and a leap of faith, we will be going straight to Uganda to build our soccer field as originally intended. More info here: http://fundafield.org/FUNDaFIELDsite/Welcome.html

We are still around $700 short of funding FUNDaFIELD's 8th field.. so if you would like to purchase a $10 raffle cow poop, a Ugandan paper bead necklace, or send in a flat donation, we would alllllll sincerely appreciate it!

I will be updating my blog to the best of my wireless ability.. I hear internet and electricity are scarce to none, so this will be interesting! I can't wait! Or to pit-stop in Dubai and see one of my friends from Australia! Woo! See you on Dec 21! (or 23 when we finally get to Uganda!)

Still Moving! Africa 2010!

Hello hello!

This December, I will be spending Christmas with my lovely friend Meredith and the kids of Swaziland as we walk across the country to bring awareness and hope to a country so devastatingly striken by poverty. Swaziland has the highest rate of HIV/AIDs in the world, and over 200,000 orphans in a country the size of New Jersey. Here is a support letter we are sending out: if you would like to help, follow the directions at the bottom (click www.nnlfilm.org > SOS> support a step> however much you want to help and add my name!)

See ya in Swaziland!

	Steps Over Swaziland
	Dear Friends & Family, Sanibonani, unjani? ('Hello, how are you?' in SiSwati) I have an amazing opportunity to take part in a historical walk across Swaziland, a small country in Africa. This event is purposed to help bring healing and hope to a beloved people and nation. From December 18th, 2010 - January 3, 2011, my team and I will walk, sing, and dribble a soccer ball 128 miles across Swaziland in just 11 days! But I can't do it alone; I need your help! The country is sending out an SOS, and I hope you will consider helping me take STEPS OVER SWAZILAND. WHY ARE WE DOING THIS? The truth is: 1) There are over 200,000 orphans living in a country the size of New Jersey. 2) Swaziland has the highest HIV/AIDS rate in the world. 3) Swaziland has the lowest life expectancy in the world at 29 years. 4) Swaziland is the only country in the world with a negative growth rate. 5) By the year 2020 there will be NO ADULTS in Swaziland unless something is done. HOW ARE WE DOING THIS? Liquid Worldwide, an entertainment company that combines a passion for storytelling with a purpose to benefit humanity, has developed a film & companion action campaign purposed to raise awareness and support for the Swazi people and the charitable organizations coming alongside them. The film & campaign is called NEVER NEVERLAND, and it tells the story of Africans & Americans united to help a king heal his people before Swaziland becomes a Neverland. SOS - Steps Over Swaziland 128 MILES TO TRAVEL. COMMUNITIES TO TRANSFORM. A STORY TO TELL. Led by 13-year old Philanthropist ZACH BONNER (www.littleredwagonfoundation.com), FUNDaFIELD (FundaField.org), and YOUME Clothing founders and volunteers (www.youmeclothing.com)- 40 friends and family members will walk across Swaziland to raise awareness and support for Swazi orphans. SOS intends to offer each community as needed: 1) the knowledge and tools to plant a sustainable garden 2) a water well 3) Zachpacks filled with care kits and HIV/AIDS education 4) Shoes & YOUME donated clothes 5) Blankets and beanies 6) Medical care 7) a FUNDaFIELD soccer field and equipment. HOW CAN YOU HELP? Donate towards sending me on the SOS trip! -Go to www.nnlfilm.com -Click on SOS at the bottom of the page -Scroll to the bottom and click on SPONSOR A STEP -Fill out the information, making sure to put my name in the donation box "We SHALL overcome. We MUST overcome. It is our responsibility as world citizens to turn back the tide of global poverty, genocide, and the proliferation of AIDS, NOW. Study "We Shall Overcome." Sing it, hear it, believe it, and whenever, wherever possible, act on it."