hello avid readers! bahaha.
yesterday was the kickoff day for kickball. ive found some fairly cheap- well i got ripped off with the muzungu (white person) price- balls that work really well, pretty similiar to a kickball in the US, but know to send hellen next time for the acholi price! however, we sadly only had 10 kids show up, 6 of which were 5 or younger and the feeling is that they will not be able to follow the game and the program (workshops and all) were designed for older kids. There were four boys from the youth club tree program that turned up to coach, so that was really encouraging. They seem really keen to do it and will be there, and even having them there we could run games. Looks like it will be slow to start and even if we can get two teams, enough to try to play a game we will go with that next week. Eric, the boda man, didn’t turn up, which is unfortunate and his phone has been off since. He will be good to get kids there- but it takes getting him there! I was a little disappointed, especially as workshops are meant to start next week, but there aren’t any kids nor are they turning up at even close to a steady time (apparently 10 came at 8am because they were excited). Awesome to be excited, just come when you can play! So next week I will teach them to play regardless of how many there are and will attempt to run a workshop on leadership. Also, we will see how the 5 minute English warm ups go, despite having no idea where the kids are. We will start with ABCs and see how it goes. Also, Hope will be back in Gulu Monday for the week and we can hopefully talk through mobilizing the children more. Still hopefully and we will go with what we’ve got. If nothing else, they can play kickball while I am here. They did enjoy just playing football and the drums yesterday.
Last night, I met the second famous person of my life, I met Invisible Children’s Jolie. For those of you who haven’t seen IC, you should and you’d have a much better idea about what life was like here and what im working with. But it’s a documentary about the war that lasted for 24 years here. It was interesting to hear Martha say that Jolie started IC, when really three American boys who were headed to sudan ended up here and found out what was going on, met Jolie, and decided to make a documentary. BUT either way, Jolie is the heart and sole (yes intentionally sole) of IC and the organization on the ground here is her life. Well, that and the bar she runs (where I met her) to pay school fees for 50 children. All in all, I was amazed to meet her and got to tell her that IC is the reason I wanted to come work in Gulu and how amazing the work they are doing is.
We also made plans to travel on Friday of this week (a national holiday) to a rock (mountain?) about 3 hours away where Alice Lakwena used to go and drink tea. Alice started the LRA and the war in the North, when the spirit took over her. Joseph Kony, the much more known name behind the LRA and the International Criminal Court target for war crimes, claimed to overtake the spirit of Alice Lakwena because he was related to her and thus the war really took off. (that’s my memory at least of the start, you can read more at invisiblechildren.org if you wish. ) This rock is said to be haunted with evil spirits and Martha is very hesitant to go. It will be a great way for me to see more of the North and to learn more about the war. Plus I am anxious to spend more time talking with Jolie and learning all I can. And I haven’t been to any ‘Haunted’ places since my crazy days in college with tunnels and abandoned hospitals. Should be an adventure!
I called round to see Wissit and Judy yesterday, always good to chat with them! They are doing some interesting things and always great to bounce ideas off of. This morning just before 7am, I met Wissit for a 5 mile run. Mind you, I have not run in three weeks at all since ive been here and really only here and there for the past 3 months or so! Well, Wissit standing at 5’2’’ is quite a quick little English lady and kicked my butt! Not to mention the 5 miles! But we walked some, okay, a lot, and had great conversation and got to see some small villages outside of Gulu. Talked a bit about trauma therapy and some trauma focused CBT and my dream to do therapy in Gulu. Wissit was encouraging and suggested I make some contacts now to come back and do some capacity building and training for therapist, which is par for the course for a masters white girl, rather than doing the therapy myself. She said she knew some people to direct me to. Nice!
I got a pretty little blister from my too low socks but all in all a good run. Have been exhausted since. The highlight of the morning came when Wissit let me use her shower (!!) with hot water (OH MY!). I felt cleaner than I have since coming to Gulu. We had a nice breakfast and I discovered that I do not like papaya, tastes like soapy rubbish to me! I will miss her while she is away in the UK but am excited for her to return with my package from the US (a laptop and my big straw hat!) and will enjoy the time to get myself in shape in prep for future runs with her!
All in all, things are going well. I think having Hope here this week will be good to get things a bit more organized and see about some other time fillers. The neighbors downstairs who I have come to spend a bit of time with gave Martha and I a chicken as a thank you for the chalk I gave the children. Martha fried it today and it was sooo yummy! Now we are enjoying a relaxing Sunday afternoon! I need to go to the market and try on the skirt I had made, but the thought of walking…. No way! Have a bit of a headache and my tummy isn’t the happiest, nothing to be alarmed about though! Ive been good about taking my temperature (yes, I brought a thermometer, aren’t you impressed? This girl is prepared!) when I feel a bit off. Not trying to get malaria! Or to not know I have it.
Three weeks have flown by in many ways and taken ages in others. My bicycle is waiting on wheels from kampala but soon I will be cruising around town on a lil red bike. All in all, gulu is great. Ive managed to stay out of the majority of the rain, and am enjoying this time. Crossing fingers for more interaction with children soon!
Take luck
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