Maggie in Uganda
Maggie volunteered at the New Grace Orphanage and School in Iganga, Uganda.
Mzungu!
“Mzungu, hi!” Probably the phrase I heard the most. Mzungu means “white person,” and children would come running out of their homes shouting this greeting. Everywhere you go in Iganga, the children are thrilled when you pass by, laughing and shouting until you are no longer in their sight. Sometimes this meant children would follow us for miles, and I often wondered how they knew how to return. The man in this photo is setting down yellow jerry cans—jugs they fill with water from the nearby pump.
Daily Life in Iganga
Front lawn. This is our front lawn before our neighbor’s Introduction Ceremony (think engagement party). While most days did not involve this catering crew preparing for several people, this photo captures the Igangan way of life (but in a much larger scale!) With big water basins and buckets, cooking and dishwashing/drying take place on the ground outside, along with laundry (notice the clothes drying on the bush to the right).
Dressed to Party!
Dressed to party! Two volunteers, Gabby and Karla, with members of their host families have arrived to the Introduction Ceremony in appropriate attire. They’re wearing the traditional Ugandan female high-shouldered, thick belted dress, the gomaz, which they have borrowed from their host mother.
Food Shopping
Food shopping: This was a little stand around the corner from our house where we would buy fruits and veggies and sometimes eggs. Since heating up leftovers isn’t an option with the lack of refrigerators, visits to the stand happened daily in order to prepare 3 full meals. Besides us, the volunteers, most families have multiple family members and hired help in one household, thus many mouths to feed.
Orphanage Fire
Aftermath in the Boys’ Dormitory: A day before I arrived, someone set fire to a dorm that housed over 250 boys at New Grace orphanage. The boys were crammed into a tiny classroom to sleep in, and the girls were asked to share what little clothes and school supplies they have. Unfortunately, these items are difficult to replace; while I thought it’d be easier to get old supplies donated and sent over, these things would never arrive due to the high theft within the Ugandan Postal Service.
Burnt Clothing
Burnt clothes. The children kept most of their clothing and belongings in these metal suitcases. Sadly, this is what was left.
Graffiti
The dorm was burning. I found this written on the wall inside the Boys’ Dorm. The image was so jarring and powerful, I knew then that I would go on to do less teaching, but more researching and organizing for how the orphanage could receive donations and rebuild quickly and efficiently. I am continuing to raise funds and hope the new ELI volunteers will purchase and deliver the much-needed supplies successfully!
Hardened Faces
Hardened faces: I found that while most children at the orphanage were cheerful and friendly, there was a handful of the very young who were incredibly tough and disturbed. And sadly, since many of the orphans have been rescued from the war-stricken North, for some of the boys the burning of the dorm was not the first time they had watched their home in blaze. I often wondered which ones were once Invisible soldiers and if they’d ever remember how to play.
Maximum Capacity
This was a class that is probably equivalent to 9th grade in the United States. As you can see, at New Grace, there are roughly 50 to 80 students per classroom. The director, Peter, explained that the orphanage continues to grow overpopulated since monthly a bus full of children rescued from the North will be dropped off in the front of the orphanage in the middle of the night. Peter does not have the heart to turn them away, and they all learn to share. The books at the front table are all the books the class must share.
Teaching with the Bare Minimum
I was amazed that the school used their cement walls as chalkboards. At first it made me very sad, but then I realized that it actually made a lot of sense. It did appear that the class wasn’t close enough to the water pump, so it was difficult to clean.
Grown up at the age of 4
This little girl moved me with her eyes!! They’re filled with so much wisdom. She looks like she has seen so much…so much more than I will probably see or know in my lifetime. Yet she always had this beautiful smile on her face, as if she was a 100 year-old woman who knew everything would be ok.
Black-out
I just really enjoy this photograph. Taken from the inside of the burnt dorm.
Lean on Me
At first you think this photo is too perfect, that it should be on a post card. But here’s some background: the only way to tell the young boys apart from the young girls was by what they were wearing. Except at New Grace, many boys had to share dresses with the girls, so it’s unclear who this is in the photo. But that’s the point—those things don’t matter to the young and hopeful children.
Nurse
Caring after some sick ones in the Girls’ dorm. In major need of supplies!
The Water Pump
This is how many people in their homes, not just at the school, got their water.
Singing and Dancing
Singing and dancing play a major role in Ugandan culture.
Serving porridge at New Grace
The 500 some children, over half of which are orphans, get fed a cup of very watered down porridge for breakfast and then posho (corn mush) and beans for lunch and dinner. Many of the days, we would give Cook Ronald a rest and serve porridge—a much more physically and emotionally challenging task than expected. Hundreds of ravenous children lined up at this hot, smoke filled kitchen ready to fill their dirty, melting plastic cups with boiling porridge. While I was overwhelmed by the never-ending line of desperate faces and was shocked every time I burned my fingers, I watched in awe and sadness as the hungry children gulped the scorching meal down. Plans were drafted later to work on a more nutritious meal plan for the children.
Smiles
In the Open
Since many activities such as cooking, cleaning, brushing your teeth, eating, etc. all took place outside, in front of your home, this made many personal things seem out in the open, it also allowed for more of a community feel and for more neighborly interactions.
Local "Bar"
Ain’t your regular bar. This is called a millet brewery, where Ugandans go out drinking. It was quite an experience in this cozy little hut sitting next to chickens, communally sipping on this warm, chunky, bubbling concoction. I purposely left the bucket of millet brew out of the photo because it’s just something you must see in person.
Sipi Falls
We traveled to Sipi Falls and besides being beautiful, this tourist site had plenty of options for adventure activities. For example…
Rappelling Down the Waterfall
Total of a 140 meter drop! Let’s just say I am afraid of heights. I actually cried, the view was beautiful—sorry I don’t have that view captured!
Overcoming Fears
Made it! Totally worth the US$30.
Car Troubles
If you’re going to go across the country from Iganga to get to many of the tourist sites and National Parks, it’s probably not a good idea to borrow a small little car, like we did. Although it was nice to have control of our road trip, a broken radiator put a big damper on our party. But a thank you to Michael for all his help arranging any form of transportation for us and to Bosco our trusted mechanic!
Safari
We rented a guide and a different car for a couple hours. Elephants were my favorite! It’s amazing how the animals just roam in parts of the country. Different parts of the world call for different perspectives. I loved how some of the children we passed or interacted with were bewildered, terrified, overwhelmed with delight—much like how we acted when we encountered animals!—but they are not phased by the elephants or baboons near their school.
Hippos
Hungry hungry hippo.
Baboons
Baboons from behind.
Camping
Camping (next to hyenas and hippos).
Mary and her Killer Sense of Smell
This is at the Queen Elizabeth National Park’s Mweya campsite where Mary, the elephant, frequents. These elephants are so beautiful, but be careful because they have a terrible eyesight! They make it up with their incredible hearing and sense of smell. Right after Gerry fed Mary, she went over to our car and stole our peanut butter and bananas. She was so precise; she didn’t even stomp on our car!
Drafting Proposals
Mid-day on our porch, we often hand-wrote out plans and proposals. Of course, we always had out fans who were always fascinated with us.
Mural Painting
After working with the S1 class, we came up with this imagery to paint on New Grace’s foremost wall. Some of the students helped us complete it, and it definitely brightened up the school.
Judaism in Uganda
Michael, our coordinator took us to Ista Village hours away from Iganga. The area was less well off than I could have imagined. But this man, Rabbi Eli was trying to do something about it. He is one of 3 rabbis who live in Uganda. He blessed us in this synagogue.
Sponsoring an Orphan
Besides serving at orphanages, volunteers and/or their families can sponsor an orphan, buying him/her clothes, food, supplies, or whatever other needs to a certain amount of time. At Ista, Rabi Eli picked out this boy, Peter, as one of the needier children out of the neediest. I was able to provide Peter with some clothes, a mattress with sheets, and a mosquito net.
Preparing a Feast
It often required machetes.
More Preparations
The preparations are half the fun.
Amazing Chefs
Cooking without all the gadgets and fancy equipment that we rely on.
Soccer
Playing soccer with Ugandans. They are FAST! And love their soccer! Let’s just say us, the Mzungus, vs. Ugandans, we won in the end…but they might have gone easy on us.
A Favorite
It took weeks for this little guy (whom we called “Baby Boogers”—you can imagine why) to get used to us. We were probably the first non-Ugandans he’d ever encountered, and for a while we usually filled him with terror.
Rafting
White-water rafting…in the Nile! This was everyone’s favorite excursion. From the town Jinja you can travel to the Nile and raft in grade 5 rapids (at times described as scarier than bungy-jumping). We recommend using Nile Explorers for this travel package.
Rafting II
Joy and pain. Getting knocked off the raft was most fun..but definitely filled with both tears of joy and pain.
Survivors
It’s amazing that we can say that we survived the great rapids of the Nile River.
Matoke
Their staple crop. You eat it like mashed potatoes. It was not our favorite but soon had to get used to it. Warning—they sit in your stomach like bricks!
Entertainment
Children often found old junk tires and rolled them around as toys. Amazing how they found such treasure in trash.
Kampala
The capital city. Well this is actually the Taxi park but shows how jam packed and overwhelming it is. Wasn’t our favorite place in Uganda.
The Kids
So much love!
Farewell
Til we meet again. This was a trip that I will not soon forget, and I know I will return to Uganda one day.
