I am back safely in one piece from the Buvuma Island outreach workshops. We took the craziest taxi ride from Lugazi to Jinja. I am pretty sure we almost hit 3 people as our driver sped through the small dirt road going faster than the road runner. I have learned to speak loud here when I am needing to be heard and I am sure the driver loved me screaming over and over: "SLOW DOWN!!!!" I probably shouldn't put this down on paper seeing that my dear mother reads these posts, but they say more people die here from traffic accidents than HIV/AIDS. Don't worry Mom, I just ride with safe people now :) I am being VERY careful, but I thank you all for your prayer because I feel God and his protection over me constantly.
I ran out of the taxi and breathed in the fresh air and mosquito. I waited and waited for the ferry to arrive and soon realized the slabs of wood and metal in from of me were it! We boarded the "ferry", grabbed our life jackets, and continued on our 40 minutes ride to Buvuma. The island it indescribable, really. The whole time I kept thinking that Disneyland had the Indiana Jones ride right. I have never been to Hawaii yet, but all of my team member that had been said that the island looked exactly like Hawaii- minus running water and clear ocean water. The government provided us with a vehicle and a local named Silver, yes Silver, was our host for the week. Richardson-the head of ADUA was also there with me along with 5 other of my teammates. We took the truck through very narrow red dirt roads and climbed up through the most gorgeous jungle ever. Tall trees with vines, monkeys scattering across the road, mango and banana trees galore, and lots and lots of cows.
The government also provided us with housing. I didn't know that drug dealing happened on the island- it really doesn't, but that is how I would describe the house we stayed in. It looked decent from the outside, but it was dark and drab inside with rat poop (nightmare coming true people!) and lizard and spiders sharing our humble abode. I was grateful to have a bed though, and my mosquito net to shield me from the creepy crawlies. Silver's grandma owned the land and his family cooked our meals which usually consisted of moldy bread, rice, beans, the most wonderful freshly squeezed juice (lemon and passion fruit) right from the tree, and chipati (flat bread). Carbs, carbs, and more carbs. The Ugandas sure do love their carbs, but I am seeing that carbs fill you up and seeing that they don't have much, it makes sense. Silver's family was extremely accommodating and gave up so much to make sure we were as comfortable as possible and made sure our bellies were full. Amazing selfless service.
We spent 4 days traveling from one village to the next teaching HIV/AIDS, Milaria prevention, Nutrition, and sanitation. The first village we went to was the most poverty stricken I have ever witnessed. It was a fishing village right off of the shore and they had little resources for food or anything of that matter. The children were without shoes and their clothes were literally hanging from their pot-belly bodies by a string. Despite their lack of basic material necessities they were happier than most children in America to see me and my friends. They ran up and hugged us- Mzungu! Mzungu! They instantly latch onto my hands and follow me throughout the village showing me why we are constantly told to become like little children. Pure love. Unconditional love. Love for life despite circumstances.
We taught the first group in a school and a boy named Colin would not leave my side. He had a horrible cough, and a very quiet manner about him. He was look up at me and give me this shy little smile every couple of minutes. I fell in love. The classes went well. I taught the group about the importance about proper sanitation and shoe-wearing. The group was very attentive and had a lot of questions with our various topics.
We traveled to several villages spread throughout the island, but there was one village in particular that broke my heart. We were teaching about HIV/AIDS and a boy about 12 years old told us that he had HIV and wanted to know what he could do to get better. Of course we come with information about this malicious disease and how to prevent and I was told about 70% of the island already has it, but of course there is no cure. I hated looking at this boy knowing that his option was to live as healthy as possible and that was it. I could tell him to go visit the one doctor on the island that serves 100,00 people which would be a long journey for him, but how much would that help? We tried to drill in the prevention factor as much as possible, distribute condoms, and pray that the people would take precautions.
Overall, I thought that the teaching went really well. A lot of the villagers thought I was a doctor since I work at a hospital. I had several people wanting a diagnosis of their illness. One man was older and expressed how he was forgetting things- early signs of dementia right? That was my guess, but he needed a doctor. Another woman in her 30's ran up to me and told me she has been experiencing awful pain in her abdomen for the past year and had blood in her stool. At that point I wished that I was a doctor and could help her.
One doctor for one island.
ADUA intention is to educate under-served areas, such as Buvuma island, and get these people the attention and aide that they deserve. Because they are off of the main land, they are continually forgotten about. Ugandans are typically scared of water and so it is hard to bring educated people into the island because they don't want to travel on the boat. I think that the education and time given by our group meant a lot to these people. I spoke later with their chairperson and expressed my concerns. I asked him what his plans were for the future of the people of the island. I hope he can provide some more consistent help.
One night Richardson decided to tell us a story about cannibals. He is a very good story teller. It was after dinner so it was dark outside and the jungle animals were loud and made for good scary background noise. Richardson told us that the island had cannibals and went off on their rituals and practices. He told us how they like to go to graveyards when the dead had just been buried. They dig up the fresh body and partake. I kept thinking he was joking, but the man was for real. I knew I had to go to bed pretty soon in my drug house and I started to feel my blood pressure rise. He kept going on about how if someone in their clan passes away they give the body to another group of their kind so as not to eat their own. Then when the other group has a similar situation they trade their own back to the other group. "Don't worry though mzungus, we have not had a case of cannibalism for 3 years now" 3 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! ONLY 3 YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That is not comforting me. I looked up disgusted and asked him about the butterflies on the island. Yes, tell me all about the beautiful, harmless creatures called butterflies.
I didn't go to bed for a long time that night. Deep in the night around 3 a.m. I heard the loudest bangs and booms and the my bed shook back and forth. I felt my heart stop and I thought that the cannibals had surely come for us. All of us were dead silent and then a "what was that?" Mike, a guy in our group said, "Oh it was probably just a branch that fell on the roof". A branch on the roof. Ok, I like that answer. . . but that was a LOUD sound though . . . I know the roof in made of tin, but a branch? Just think it's a branch Andrea. No, it's not crazy village people outside of your door or anything. Just when I thought I had started my heart again and felt the blood circulating, I heard a group of people chanting/singing in the distance. It sounded like a tribe chanting around their drums. At this point I really thought I had gone crazy-maybe the malaria pills were getting to me, but my friend Camille asked if I heard the singing. Oh crap, she hears it too! I wanted to crawl inside the world of Utah quickly, the safety of familiarity . . . I said a million prayer to fall asleep but as I closed me eyes I kept seeing tribal faces. AH! I somehow managed to fall asleep. Silver told us the next morning it was probably a monkey jumping on the roof looking to eat the rats that scurried about the roof.
Tree branch. Monkeys. Cannibals.
Cannibals?
Overall, minus the freakishness of some moments, the island was amazing. I know its hard to believe after that story, but the non-cannibal people were amazing and the view doesn't get any better. A dream and a nightmare all in one. I managed not to see an actual rat, but I would hear them at night jump down from the tops to the floor. No cheerios in sight so that's always good.
Uganda needs a strong government who instills education for its people. The people may suffer from their poor circumstances, but they are a happy god-fearing people. Emmanuel cooked my food most night and we had a long conversation. One thing he said to me will stay with me for the rest of my life. "Africa is good. God has given the African people everything they need. We have fertile soil to plant our crops, moderate weather, and a beautiful land and people that I would never give up. I could never ask for more from God."
And so it is, God provides for his people. We all live through the grace of God. He continually blessed his people with what they need and what we lack he provides through the services of other people. The Ugandan people don't have much, but what they do have is something that I hope to take with me for life- love and gratitude to God simply for life alone.
