A Few Photos

Francis, Betty, Zziwa, Nicholas, Simon, Zina, Alex, Auntie Justine, Nick, and Michael arriving at Teddy's graduation party.















One of the many beautiful views from our house.



























Michael, Nick, Aggie, and friends getting our groove on at Teddy's graduation party!











Aggie, Nick, Rose, and Michael after lunch at a rose garden.







Teddy, Teddy's Cousin, and Michael taking pictures at the graduation party.

Just Dance

I never imagined that I would enjoy Kampala so quickly. This past weekend has been nothing short of enjoyable!

On Friday, Alex and Zziwa gave us a tour of the city. Everywhere you look, there are people walking alongside red clay roads pushing bikes, carrying fruits, or calling for a taxi or boda boda, which is a motorcycle that acts as a cab for cheap prices. There is so much life here. The views are beautiful. The green hills are always visible from any part of the city. We had our first traditional meal: beef stew, matoke (boiled mashed unripe bananas), peanut sauce, and fresh passion fruit juice. DELICIOUS!

The next day we went to a graduation party for Teddy, one of the students involved with EAC. Her house was packed with people who came to congratulate her. It began with a mass spoken in Luganda, the local language. MF and I didn't know what was going on, but still enjoyed service. The singing was beautiful. After a long service (similar to my grandmother's Baptist church :)), we ate and Teddy got tons of gifts! She said a heartfelt speech to her mother and thanked her for not giving up on her. There were lots of tears in the audience. Later, a DJ began to play music. First, it started slow, but in less than 30 minutes, everyone from the elders of the church to 3 year olds were getting their groove on! We danced the night away. It was so fun! The kids were such great dancers and taught me a few new moves. Can't to come back and show them off! We danced late into the night.

When dancing, I looked out into the group and saw so many people, both young and old, moving freely with such joy. For those few hours, there was not a care in the world. For the beautiful people here, it's important to sit back and enjoy the moment. So many times in life, we are constantly planning for tomorrow and end up forgetting to enjoy the moment. In all of our hopes and dreams, we fail to actually appreciate what's happening right now. It was a great night to see people embrace one of my favorite Disney lines, "Hakuna Matata" It means "no worries for the rest of your days"...you know the rest!

When we finally grew tired in the wee hours of the night, we all piled into a packed van. I started talking to my new friend, Nicholas (what a clever name) about life and his future. He told me a little about his struggle, but we didn't go into detail. I could tell it was still hard to talk about. But, in the end, he looked me in the eye and calmly said, "I will make it. All I have to do is pray hard and work hard." With such confidence and determination, I believed Nicholas. In that moment, I knew that I was in the right place. Through this project, I want to help do my part to make sure that Nicholas' prayers and hard work pay off.
- Nick

At Last...

We made it! Michael and I were so so blessed to have a safe and calm plane ride from Dallas to Amsterdam to Entebbe. We kept ourselves entertained by watching movies, reading books, and some chatter. MF is reading Whatever it Takes about his hero Geoffrey Canada and the Harlem Children Zone, and I'm reading Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson, which details one man's journey to establish quality schools in the Middle East. Both are excellent reads and will be helpful as we begin our service project. One of the most amusing parts of the flight was an older man about two rows behind us. He was snoring SO LOUDLY! It was hilarious! MF and I both wanted to videotape it, but decided that might be a bit inconsiderate...

After 19 hours of flights, layovers, and tuning out snores, we finally arrived in Entebbe to be greeted by Alex, Francis, Zziwa, and Gyavira. Automatically, we had a connection. The ride from Entebbe to Kampala is about an hour. As we swerved the crooked, crowded streets of Uganda, Mike and I conversed with Alex and Francis (a recipient of EAC's US scholarship headed to Pepperdine!) We laughed at the crazy traffic and compared cultures. It was a great ride. It was dark outside, but I can already tell the town is lively and bustling.

We arrived at the place we're staying, a residential house for volunteers. We were greeted by Richard, a British volunteer who serves as the house manager. He's great! He showed us around the house, and it seems like it's great for our needs. We went into the bedroom and noticed that the beds already had mosquito nets attached to protect sleepers from malaria. There's only one problem: one of the nets is white, the other is pink...guess who got stuck with the princess bed? Yep, ME. Shaking my head...

Tomorrow, we're heading to exchange money, tour the city, meet some of the staff, and get used to the city. It should be an exciting and peaceful day before we start getting started! Pictures are soon to come

-Nick

We're Here

We've arrived! Our journey over was very calm. I slept from Dallas to Amsterdam and Nick slept from from Amsterdam to Entebbe our chatter was limited. KLM offers an excellent selection of films. One of the films I watched was Invictus. I pondered why people were so under whelmed by it. The anticipation of watching the World Cup in Kampala contributed to my enjoyment. The last 30 minutes of the plane ride were especially exciting. Nick woke up and we watched the flight tracker attentively. When about 10 miles remained, more than just clouds became visible. We could see Lake Victoria, which was beautiful. Any anxiety I had experienced prior to departure went away. I was reminded of satellite pictures shown to me by one of my high school history teachers, which showed Europe, the Americas, and parts of Asia and Africa bright with light while others were dark.

Going through customs was easy. However, waiting for luggage was a little scary because it seemed our suitcases were never going to come. In fact, after about 15 minutes of waiting, the conveyor belt just stopped for a good two minutes. Images of my green suitcase being rolled through the streets of Amsterdam by a stranger eating one of the city's famous baked goods ran popped into my head. Nick kept telling me everything was fine, and he was right as our luggage came. We were welcomed outside the luggage area by Alex (EAC's Assistant Program Director in Kampala), Zziwa (EAC's driver). and EAC US Scholarship students - Gyavira and Francis. Seeing Gyavira and Francis was awesome and comforting because I had met them at the EAC office in Dallas two weeks ago.

The ride to the house where we will be staying provided me with my first glimpse of Kampala. I am so happy to here. The streets are lively. Businesses and homes line the streets. People are outside: eating, walking home, and conversing. Even hair salon doors were open so I could see people getting their haircuts. One of my friends at school often tells me in a southern draw, "Feldman, you are a people person. You just like being with others." From what I saw last night, Kampala is the perfect place for a "people person" because people were together. There is a contagious vibe of community. Francis and Alex were excellent, engaging, and informative company. They told us about Ugandan culture and pointed out important sites. When we passed President Museveni's homes, Alex told us he had been in power for 26 years. I asked if there were any term limits. "There were, but he had the laws changed," he answered. How convenient! I look forward to asking more questions on this subject.

We were greeted at the place we are staying by Richard - an employee of the British NGO, which owns the home and Bosco - the home's dog. After unpacking, we got ready for bed and put our mosquito nets down. I fell asleep instantly. Tomorrow should be an awesome day. Alex will be taking us all around Kampala.

- Feldman

Less than 24 Hours Until Departure

After so much planning and anticipation, it's hard to believe we will be departing for Kampala in less than 24 hours. Time really does fly. For those interested, I thought I would share some background on our project and the issues we will be considering over the next 7 weeks.

At the beginning of our first semester at Vanderbilt, Nick and I began discussing the idea of doing community service together. We had no idea where we wanted to go but knew we wanted to do something with education and agreed going somewhere internationally would be amazing. In November, I was speaking with Annie "Mack Attack" Mack (Dallas's premiere tutor) who suggested I contact Empower African Children - an organization operating in Kampala, Uganda, which she is involved with. I did, and the rest is history.

EAC provides social, educational, and health resources to Ugandan children. Our task is to create a logic model for the organization. A logic model is a tool used by for- and non-profit to measure the success of their services. Over the next 7 weeks, we will be working with every facet of EAC to understand its goals so we can create a logic model for them.

Professor Kathy Hoover-Dempsey - one of Vanderbilt's treasures- allowed me to write my final paper for her course this semester on the psychological effects of orphanhood in Africa.

What I Learned

1. One study found that culturally, “‘keeping quiet’” is widely considered to be a healthy response following the death of a parent. Internalization is preferred to externalization. Younger children are more vulnerable upon becoming orphans because they are less likely to seek out support for their emotional pain.
2. Often times, children had little knowledge regarding their parent's illness. They know their parent is not feeling well, but they do not know the disease killing them is HIV/AIDS. Moreover, people in the community may not know the parent is ill because the parent is ashamed to reveal their illness. As a result, when the parent dies, there is no guardian for the child.
3. Interestingly, children who become orphans for reasons other than AIDS are not strongly linked to having psychological distress such as depression and anxiety; however, there are links between psychological distress and orphans who lose their parents to HIV/AIDS. This is partly because AIDS is often considered a “bad” death because a person with the disease is considered to have strayed from tradition. A common incident for AIDS’ orphans is to be taunted and teased by their peers for the death of their parents. After the death of a parent, when an orphan is in need of support, friends will often exclude their friend because of the way their parent passed away

Those are just 3 of the interesting facts I will consider over the next 7 weeks. I look forward to sharing my experience in Kampala.

- Feldman

Only the Beginning

The project is off to an amazing start. Days of endless packing, goodbye phone calls, and countless trips to stores to "grab that last item" have finally led to what is going to be a trip to remember. I'm so excited to begin.

In only 2 days, I've already learned so much about the importance of listening to other's needs and being patient to develop a deliverable. I arrived in Dallas, TX two days ago to begin the first leg of our summer project. Michael and I met at Empower African Children's main office and talked with Jeremy and Alexis about some last minute details. At first, Michael and I weren't sure if everyone was on the same page about what we'd be doing, but after talking with them in person together, we are confident that everything will go pretty much as planned. We will be in Kampala for 7 weeks to develop a logic model that will measure the success of EAC's efforts. It's so neat to think that Michael and I will provide a tangible product and service that will be a part of the organization for years to come. We will definitely be pushed to think outside of the box, but we can handle it! We asked EAC what they thought set them apart from other education organizations in Africa. Jeremy responded the relationship and commitment to quality education, not just "education." EAC is dedicated to empowering children to become community leaders and global citizens. They aren't only about numbers, but rather about the individual long-term success of one child. Alexis said that her goal is to "change young people's lives that will change other young people's lives." As I sat listening to Jeremy and Alexis, I thought to myself, this is is what service is all about: Helping others to help others. Giving others the opportunity to succeed enables them to come back to their communities and enrich them.

This trip is going to be so rewarding, and though we're serving others, I am positive that we will be the ones who learn and gain so much from this experience.

-Nick