Last Week, Let's Make It Count!

What's up y'all?

As the title implies, I have one last full week in Gulu to get stuff done, then it's off to Kampala for a few days and then off to England to hang out with my family for over a week. 

Honestly, I'm not upset about leaving. Even though I've had a fantastic time down here meeting tons of awesome people and traveling to places that I've never been, the fact is that I haven't been back in Philadelphia since Spring Break in March. It's been a long, long time and when I get back I expect to have a line of  cheesesteaks set up so I can eat them. Also, I've missed my family like crazy, especially my Godfather, Uncle Mark, who will not be joining us across the ocean. Thankfully, though, my parents, sister, and brother will be in England so it'll be great to see them again! 

So where did I leave off last? Ah yeah, the end of Tuesday. 

Last week was kind of slow. Tabu and I went to Awach on Wednesday where we surveyed four families over there who were participants in our Goat Lending program. It was a long day and my ass hurt like crazy afterward from the motorcycle, but it was great nonetheless. The program over there is relatively new, so a couple of families haven't seen much progress so far. Others, however, have been able to get multiple goats from a single mother, which has been fantastic to say the least. Maybe I'll add some pictures later - they're on Josh's camera. However, the Awach site, while somewhat successful, is nothing compared to the progress made at Pece, though. Apparently the program has been working really well there and families are actually lending out the goats, though we haven't been able to see it. Hopefully we can get that done this week, though. Also, I managed to finish A Song of Ice and Fire. My God, the final couple of books need to come out ASAP. 

Thursday and Friday were both equally frustrating. We were supposed to go to Kochgoma on Thursday for Goat Lending, but we needed two driver instead of one, and neither was available to go with Tabu and I. The same was Friday when were hoping to go to Pece. It was cloudy and raining, and no one would take us out there. I also wasn't able to speak to anyone about the Mobilization plan because they were all out. But meh, we've come to expect disappointment and lack of motivation down here. Best part of the day was nearly walking through a riot on the way back to Francis's place. Hopefully this week will be different.

We didn't really do anything Thursday and Friday night either. Thursday, Josh and I especially were unmotivated to travel all the way to BJ's for Trivia Night, and Friday I was way to wrapped up in Breaking Bad to move out at all. I'm not afraid to admit that I blew through the first season in just a few hours - It's a really good show! 

Saturday, Josh, Clara and I went out to the marketplace to get some shopping done. Normally I'm terrible at buying stuff for people, but with Clara's help especially I managed to buy tons of souvenirs. After, I Skyped with my NumberOne CeilingAdornment for a few hours, which put me in a really, really good mood. As a result, I decided to go out to BJ's with GROW Columbia to drink and dance the night away. And we all did just that. It was such a good night, and a good way to end a decent week and start the new week off. 

Most of Sunday was spent watching Breaking Bad Season Two. Yes, I managed to get through the whole season in one day. It was too good to stop, and Josh could attest to how obsessed I had become with it. We also enjoyed a can of Rambo beer, which was the most vile beverage that I've ever had, to say the least. After a while, we took a break form Breaking Bad and reading Game of Thrones to go out to grab some Ethiopian food and a couple of drinks. Like the previous night, it ended up being a relaxing day and another good beginning to our final week. 

Today, we got to the office a bit late and managed to miss half of the weekly meeting. It wasn't a bad thing, but Clara was giving Josh and I the evil eye as we walked in. Turns out this week will be much busier than we had initially anticipated. Today we had interviews for the scholarship program. I was an interviewer with Clara, Francis, Collins, and the District Education Officer, Ceaser. We interviewed nine candidates and will be giving out three. When we have the results, I'll let you guys know!

For the rest of the week, we hope to actually be able to visit our Goat Lending and Seed Lending sites and visit the Safari Reserve. I've got one final Sports Gala meeting on Thursday, and that will take up all of Friday and Saturday. For visiting the sites, I'm keeping my expectations low!

Until next time! Hopefully I'll have more to write about. 

Sincerely,

Olara

The Family Words of House Adams: Time is Running Out

Hey Everyone!

Sorry that it's been a while since my last proper post. A lot of things have been going on, and I've been too distraught and distracted to write anything productive.

Well, where did I leave off last?

I posted a few promised pictures, including the shirts which I'm assuming you all loved. The post was very short, though, as much of my week was relatively uneventful. The real party happened Saturday night, but we'll get to that eventually. We'll go all the way back to last Wednesday.

Unfortunately, we weren't able to visit Kochgoma last week on Wednesday because we didn't have the fuel to go. HAU's fuel supply is meager to say the least, and we had failed to take that into account when formulating our budget. Since this was the case, most of the day was spent doing nothing if I recall other than formulating a strategy plan for resource mobilization at HAU. It was pretty interesting, though it didn't really speed the day along enough. After work, I went back to Francis's place, kicked back, and read some more Game of Thrones. If it seems like I've become obsessed with it, it's because I have. Please refer to the title of this blog to confirm what I have said.

Thursday was kind of fun. We went to the office pretty early in the morning, where I started to work on the plan some more while I eagerly waited to go to a CVAP meeting for the Sports Gala at 10 with Emma. However, Emma had gone out with Clara to visit one of our vocational scholarship recipients, Collins, at school. By the time we had gotten to the meeting, it was 11 and wasn't running on Gulu time. This meeting was different, though. Every organization showed up, and we each had a tangible form of what we would be providing at the event. We all sat there discussing the form, what we expected, and laughing at some jokes, some of which I didn't really understand. Maybe it was inter-partner stuff?

Emma and I grabbed a quick lunch afterwards and rode back to the office for a minute before proceeding to a testing event in the Pece district. Admittedly, I didn't stay long. Apparently the crowd was supposed to come at 3PM, and I had no patience to wait that long. Instead I went back to the office for a couple of hours, and continued to work on the plan a bit more. The rest of the day was spent the same way, though I went out for a nice Ethiopian dinner with a friend of mine. To see what it looked like, refer back to my last blog post. It was a plate of pretty much everything on the menu! That night we went to Trivia night again, though we didn't win anything this time around. We got close, but Clara, our scribe, couldn't spell Catalyst. Fourth place doesn't win you a case of Nile Specials!

Friday, we went out on a field visit with TASO, the AIDS Support Organization, to the Nyowa District in Gulu. The journey was a few hours long and extremely bumpy and the visit was actually really short, but we all shared laughs and met some great people. On the car ride, we talked about such topics as rape, specifically whether or not a man can be raped by a woman, sex, and marriage among others. It was hilarious to say the least and shocking at times. By the end, we never really reached any agreement. Once we got back to the office I finally finished my first draft of the plan and sent it to Francis for him to take a look at over the weekend.

After work I met up with a CVAP friend to grab a drink and celebrate another week down. We played a few games of pool too, and I won best out of three after three games. I lost the second one on a technicality when the black ball found its way into the hole with another one of my balls. Pool down here was different. We played with smaller balls that had two colors as opposed to stripes and solids. The table also curved a lot, which worked to my advantage in most cases. Following this, we grabbed some rolex and headed to an event at the TAKS Center that included dancing, singing, short films, and poetry. There I met a lot of people, had a blast, and somehow found my way back to Francis's place after a boda ride.

Saturday got off to a rough start, but it ended up being an interesting day nonetheless. I hung out with some random guys off the street, one of which bought me a Pepsi. After, I met up with the rest of the GROW team at Pamela's place to celebrate Meneka's birthday. We ate a ton of food, drank a little bit, and planned for the evening. The plan was to head to a place called Acholi Social, then proceed on to BJ's for the rest of the night. Clara, Julia, Junior, Josh and I all met up at Pagoda for a quick beer, then headed over. There we drank a bit more then went to BJ's. To sum it up, we drank a lot more, I was hit on by a rather big black man, told to be more humble by a random 29 year old girl, and fed some amazing pork. Also, I was told that one of my new friends is a con artist. Yeah, it was strange, but all of us had a good time in the end.

The next morning was spent getting ready for the Youth Program. It was the first one that Health Alert has had in a year, and it was a part of out goal to reinvigorate it. There ended up being over 150 kids there, and nearly 50 caretakers. It was a blast. There were four different age groups, each of which had their own topic to discuss. I sat with the caretakers, and tried to understand what they were saying about stigma, HIV/AIDS counseling tactics, family planning, and any other thoughts that they wanted to share. It was cool to see, but hard to understand. After everyone packed up to go, I went back to Francis's for a bit to hang out before I had to meet my con friend for dinner, which wasn't all that bad. I had to pay for dinner, though...

Monday was completely uneventful. I was really upset over something that had happened and I wasn't really productive during the day. It wasn't until near closing time that I actually began to move around, speak to people, and get some stuff done.

Today, though, I was back on my game. I did some budgeting for fuel and other logistical information, filled out money request forms for fuel, the Sports Gala, and transportation request forms to visit the Awach and Kochgoma Goat Lending sites tomorrow and Thursday respectively. I also met with a couple of Medical School volunteers who are going to help us with HIV/AIDS Counseling and Testing at the Gala. It was quick, though they had also stated that they were interested in partnering with HAU. Sadly, no one is at the office at the moment so I can't really discuss it with anyone today. But tomorrow, definitely!

Alright that's it for now. Hope this served as a solid update on my life! The rest of the week will be spent going on field visits to close down the Goat Lending project, talking to the staff about the resource mobilization plan, and talking to them about a potential partnership. I'll keep you guys posted!

Thanks for reading,

Olara

GoT Discussion: About finished with the fifth book! Still haven't been able to stream the final episodes of the season, though. Thankfully I already know what happens, so all is good. Otherwise, shit's going crazy and it's getting really good.

The Shirts Are In! Among Other Pictures

Hey All!

Hope you're enjoying your weekends. So far mine's been great! Works been good, I've met a lot of cool people, especially last night at a TAKS Center Cultural Event that included locally made films by the United Youth Entertainment program, spoken word poetry, music performances, dance, and excerpts from intense books based during the civil war. I'll be seeing a lot of the same people tonight, as well as celebrating Menaka's birthday and learning how to cook. 

For now, here's a quick posts with a couple of pictures, including two I've owed you guys for a long, long time. Hope you enjoy them!

Sincerely yours,

Olara Adams

Green short-sleeve

Crazy, long-sleeve club shirt

Locally grown, hot chili peppers

Ethiopian feast

Two baby goats at testing event

Calvin, a Performer at TAKS Center Event singing Country and Christian Music

Olara, not Lala

Hey Friends, Family, Strangers,

As a few people have already told me, it has been a while since my last entry. For that, I am sorry. Admittedly, I was too distracted on Sunday, and, when I was about to write an entry on Monday, the Wifi at Pagoda crashed. Tough luck, but that just means that this blog post will be a lot more meaningful. 

First, I need to clarify something. I was mistaken with my Acholi name. Apparently it isn't Lala. It's Olara. It still means "the savior", but it sounds a little less odd. Which is a good thing, though I wish I had learned that I was wrong a while ago! 

Next, I want to make some shout outs.

1. A big CONGRATS to my sister, Stefanie Adams, for graduating from her high school. I'm really sorry that I wasn't there, and I'm not sure if you read my blog, but from what I've heard it was a beautiful ceremony. I just wanted to say that I'm very proud of you and that I love you so much. You looked wonderful in each of your pictures, too. You're going to be great at GWU, and I can't wait to see you in London. We're going to celebrate. Hard. Get ready. 

2. SOMEONE DONATED $5,000 TO OUR GlobeMed at UNC Razoo page! I cannot stress how much that donation meant to me and to everyone else at GlobeMed at UNC. When I messaged Alecia about it and told Trini, they both went crazy. We were actually in danger of not meeting our fundraising target, and with one press of a button we made up the difference ten fold. It was extremely generous, and, while we will not get to use it this summer, it will give us a massive start for fundraising this coming year. Of course, any other contribution is very much appreciated no matter how large or how small. You'll get a lot of love from all of us! http://www.razoo.com/story/Globemedatunc 

That's it for shout outs. Seriously, though, I can't stress how much the donation means to all of us, and I can't put into words how happy and proud I am for my sister. Alright, back to recounting my experiences over the past few days. 

Casual Chicken on the couch

On Thursday after work, I went to grab a drink with Natasha from CVAP to get a better feel for the Sports Gala and learn a bit more about her. After splitting up, I met with the team for dinner before going to BJ's for trivia night. Sadly, neglected to stay because it had been a long day, and, by the time we got there, I was already falling asleep. Instead of waiting any longer past ten, I elected to take Clara home and head back to Francis's place for another sleepless night full of weird clock noises every hour on the hour, loud roosters at four in the morning, and hot rooms. Josh and Julia stayed, though they didn't have the luck required to win the case of Nile Special. Thankfully, we have three more Thursdays to give it a shot.

Work on Friday was very slow, but that is how it usually is in Gulu, for better or for worse. The most productive thing that I managed to do was take my Resource Mobilization document and add so much more detail to it including drawbacks, benefits, suggestions, implementation procedures, and requirements for each measure. It was a long and boring process, but, once I sent it out to HAU's staff, I felt pretty awesome having finished it. Afterwards, our team met up at this amazing Ethiopian place named Abyssina. It was so good that we went there twice in a row. The best part of the two times was walking in and seeing a crowd of white people. The whole meal, I couldn't help but stare at them as they stared at us. You'd think that we were the only white people in town, but this was not the case.

A good amount of Friday was spent by our team and the staff getting pumped up for Corporate Night at Diana's Garden. The place is one massive pavilion, bar, and lounge, and each Friday night it gets packed with locals and becomes one massive dance party. It was actually refreshing to see that the dancing in Uganda is much less raunchy than it is in the United States.  There we drank a bit, met up with GROW Columbia and CVAP, and generally had a good time. 

Pece Stadium Entrance

Having started the weekend on a good note, the next day was spent recovering and walking around the outskirts of town, taking pictures of baby goats and local NGOs, and high-fiving excited children. Following this, we decided to hang out at Pagoda to Skype our president, Trini Thach, and our GROW Coordinator, Susan Violet. We caught them up on our progress, and got an update on their lives. It was casual and short, but nice to see them again. After we Skyped with them, I managed to get a couple of hours to talk to Catherine, my NumberOne CeilingAdornment. As usual, it was good to see her again and it made my day :). 

We planned on going out that night, but that did not happen in the end. We went to the Ethiopian restaurant again, but we were too tired after to go to BJ's. Instead, Josh and I went back to Francis's place to read some Game of Thrones. Yes, I've managed to get him to start reading as well. How could he refuse to? It's so good. 

Goat Mother and Baby Goat

Josh and I elected not to go to Church on Sunday, though we weren't really asked or forced to go anyway. Instead, I went out to hang with some CVAP people for the whole day, and met lot of new people. We exchanged numbers, and I was able to see some areas of Gulu that I had yet to explore. It was a lot of fun, and that night we met up again with GROW Columbia to satiate our hunger for pizza. We went to a place called Sankofa Cafe, where all the white people go, apparently. The pizza was fantastic, and hanging out with Columbia afterwards at Pagoda was nice, too. I also won 20,000 UGX from Josh for managing to be quiet for ten minutes. Like many readers, I didn't even think it was possible. But it happened, and now he has provided me with enough money to drink adequately for a single night. 

Thankfully, we had off yesterday because it was Martyrs' Day, a Ugandan national holiday that celebrates the memory of twenty-two Catholics who were murdered by King Mwanga II of Buganda. For it, many people make a pilgrimage to Kampala, the capital, to commemorate their memories and celebrate mass with many of the local religious leaders in the area. Josh and I decided to celebrate our day off reading Game of Thrones, sleeping, and not being able to work on our blogs. Yes, it was slow but I finally managed to finish Book Four of the series! The ending was phenomenal, though Book Five is showing much more promise than I had expected to see. At this rate, I'll definitely be finished the series by the end of this journey. 

Three Hour Meeting Under the Tent

Finally, today has been pretty awesome, aside from the three hour meeting that we had to sit through. I was responsible for an hour of that, though, because I was finally able to present my Resource Mobilization outline to the staff of HAU. Initially, it was a bit slow, though the staff started to jump in, adding their own comments, ideas, and suggestions on not only the measures that I presented, but on other issues as well. The presentation was received well, and I will be sitting with the HAU staff over the coming weeks to work on an Implementation Strategy over the next year until the next GROW team comes and evaluates it. I hope that it will succeed in making a difference at HAU and that the board will accept measures such as charging affordable Client and Registration fees, holding massive fundraising events like Marathons and Cultural Galas, pushing for Online Fundraising and and a greater presence in social media, and new documentation strategies. I'll keep you guys posted on its progress!

The rest of my week seems like it's going to be awesome. Clara and I are doing a final evaluation of our Goat Lending Project in Kochgoma tomorrow, and on Thursday Emma and I are heading over to CVAP to (hopefully) meet with all of the health partners and finalize plans for the Sports Gala, which now is being held on June 21st. Of course, there is another Trivia Night and Corporate Night, and one of Columbia's GROW members is celebrating her birthday this weekend. Finally, we're having our first Youth Program taking place Sunday morning. Basically, look forward to an exciting post to tentatively come out later that day!

As always, thank you all for reading!

Olara (not Lala)

GoT Discussion: Finished Book Four and progress is underway in the Fifth. The fourth book wasn't as good as the others, though its ending was one of the best by far. It wasn't so much epic as it was shocking and disturbing to read. Let's just say some characters finally get the justice they deserve, and others are being set up to be in very high positions of power. Also, I haven't been able to catch up with the latest episode of the show, though I know what will happen. Looking forward to watching it!

Here's some more, random pictures that I have taken:

Gulu Disabled Persons Union Headquarters

HAU's Motorcycles. I want to ride one

GWED-G Headquarters

Better picture of HAU's Headquarters 

They're Taking Our "Save the Children" Truck!

Beans and Rice

Yo, Yo!

If I'm honest, the title has nothing to do with this post, other than the fact that, on occasion, I have had the craving for beans and rice. It costs less than $2, and fills you up more than any meal at McDonalds. It's probably healthier, too. 

Sadly, I wasn't able to post anything yesterday because I was focused on other things such as presenting ideas for improved resource mobilization to people, Redditing, Facebooking, and eating. Also, the usual place where we go for wifi after work was having problems with it, so we weren't able to do anything with it. Anyway, here goes. Post #8!

The rest of my Sunday was largely spent reading Game of Thrones. In the last post, I mentioned that I was over 500 pages into the third book. It was too good to stop, though, so I spent the rest of the day reading it in an attempt to finish it all as soon as possible. It was so exciting, although it's been frustrating not having anyone to talk to about it! 

On Monday, we spent the morning fixing our budget to make sure that we can afford to strengthen our programs, especially the Youth Program, while maintaining a positive balance on our account. Julia, fellow team member and Finance chair for GlobeMed, was especially on target as she made calculation after calculation to ensure that everything would be fine. Sadly, however, we need more money to fund the Sports Gala event. We're waiting on an additional $1,000 from UNC, so hopefully that gets to us soon! 

Two Rabbits just Chilling

Later in the day, we went on a field visit to distribute condoms to two communities named Bobi and Oyam. It was a long drive in the back of the Land Cruiser, though it was nice to bond with the staff and meet some new people outside of the office in far off communities. We even met someone who is also from Philadelphia who is here on a Peace Corps mission until the summer of 2015. That's a long time, and I wish him the best, especially because he actually knows where Devon is. I also managed to snap a few pictures that I found interesting! The best part of the day, though, was finishing Game of Thrones at one o'clock in the morning. After I had finished I was almost too excited to sleep!

Fun Fact: Circumcision reduces the chance of contracting HIV/AIDS!

Beautiful Tree on Field Visit

The next day was spent doing close to nothing, which was unfortunate though inevitable seeing how the majority of the staff was away for field visits. Because of limited space and fuel, we weren't able to participate in any, so we spent the day hanging out in the office and talking to Carol and Sam about things going on at the work place. I guess the most exciting part was helping Ben, Namolynda, and some other guys clean out and repack the garage. After it I was a sweaty and dirty wreck, but it was fun while it lasted. Sam and I also attempted to set up a Razoo fundraising site, though it turned out to be much more complicated than we had initially anticipated!

Chicken chilling on Francis's counter

After a long day of doing nothing, Josh and I finally managed to move our gear out of the Hotel Diamond and into Francis's home. It took three boda bodas, tight fits on the bikes, and 9,000 UGX to get us there. At first, we were skeptical because Hotel Diamond was beginning to feel like home and Francis had chickens that would not stop making noise and younger daughters who were spying and probably conspiring to kills us in our sleep. Thankfully that didn't happen! The chickens, however, woke up at 4 o'clock the next morning making all of the stereotypical noises, and Francis's clock made, without fail, the same chime every hour on the hour. Yes, the bed was comfortable and we came out bite free, but those two factors made the experience almost unbearable. Hopefully it doesn't come to us slaughtering every last chicken...

Wednesday we woke up after a comfortable but rough night of sleep. We had no idea how long it'd take us to get to the office from Francis's place, and we were missing our shoes as we just got up to get ready. Admittedly, it was a bad start to an otherwise good day. Once we found our newly cleaned shoes by a man named Moses and had our morning Chapati and tea, we set off to work. Like Tuesday, not many people were there. Though that didn't stop me from attempting to do something. First, I worked on a preliminary budget plan for the Sports Gala. Then I went to Emma to talk about it and read up on HAU's resource mobilization strategy. As I read it, I made little notes, comments, and suggestions on each topic area and presented them to Emma, Sam and Stella to get their opinion. A lot of measures consisted of very small fees and ways to increase HAU's outreach to the local and international community, and each were approved by them. I've sent it to Francis, the program director, to take a look. If he likes it, then hopefully I'll be able to present it on Monday's staff meeting.

I spent most of the day working on that, taking a break for a very inexpensive lunch of beans and rice. Afterwards, we went to speak to Pamela again about GWED-G's success with resource mobilization and how they have managed to be so successful in getting proposals approved for multiple programs. Admittedly, I zoned out a lot as she talked at length about various topics, but the team and I learned a lot from her. Hopefully we'll be able to use this to change the structure of HAU if need be.

Rambo Beer, 10% Alcohol. 

Once we got back to the office, we hung out and eagerly waited to pick up our new shirts at the marketplace. Mine came in looking as fresh as the one before it (yes, I'm aware that you have yet to see any pictures of them). We picked up our shirts, went to Pagoda where we failed to get wifi, then went back to Francis's place to watch an episode of Game of Thrones, read a little bit, shower, eat, then sleep.

This morning we woke up to more Chapati and tea, and set off earlier then expected. It was another night of hard sleep with the clock and the chickens, but hey - what are you going to do? Now we're just chilling out in the office, working on blogs, checking Reddit, and waiting for money and responses so we can continue to get things done. Uganda has been one big waiting game, and it's hard to tell whether we're winning or losing. In the meantime, why not have a Rambo beer?

There are things to look forward to, though! Tonight is trivia night, and we're prepared to win first place and a case of Nile Special beer, which is the best.

Hope you guys enjoyed this blog entry! I'll probably write another one this Sunday to keep you guys updated. As always, I'm open to comments/suggestions/opinions on my blog and its contents. Thanks for reading!

Lala

P.S. As you've probably inferred from everything I've written thus far, you know that I love HAU, GlobeMed, and almost everything about Uganda. We've worked really hard throughout the year and, although works going rather slowly, I know that the results will prove our effectiveness as partners.

This is a small plea: one of the biggest problems facing HAU is providing necessary resources to continue many of its programs after their funding is up. While GlobeMed tries very hard to raise as much as possible, it's not enough to provide extra funds that are sorely needed here. Although HAU works to keep up with proposal writing and maintain partnerships with other organizations, it's still been difficult to maintain its success. Especially as the former Campaigns Coordinator of GlobeMed at UNC, I know the frustration when an organization is unable to do all it can to raise money.

So here's my request: if you could donate any amount possible to help us out, please visit this Razoo site that we set up a while ago. We had a goal of $10,000 to raise throughout the year, but we've had trouble getting the grants necessary to raise the full amount. If you could donate at least $10, that would mean so much to all of us, and it will get us off to a great start in the coming year. Thanks in advance for your generosity! http://www.razoo.com/story/Globemedatunc

GOT Discussion: Finished the third book, nearly 100 pages in to the fourth! Let's just say the next season of Game of Thrones will be the most intense yet. I saw some things coming, others should have been predicted, but most of it was shocking. And I loved every single last word of it! I'm pushing hard through the fourth book to keep up the progress, which is admittedly off to a slow start. But I'm sure it'll continue to be the best series yet. 

20,000 Ugandan Schillings is less than $10

Hey Everyone,

Happy Sunday!

Laundry from Last Saturday

A common question that I've been asked today is whether or not I've gotten the chance to worship. Sadly, my team and I haven't had the opportunity, so I wrote a blog post instead. Hope you guys enjoy it!

Before I start recounting my experiences since Wednesday night, here's a picture of my laundry from last Saturday. Apparently, we all did ours wrong and let out clothes soak in soapy water without properly scrubbing them. Next time, it'll be a longer process. We've become masters of waiting down here, though, so it'll be no problem. 

Last time I updated y'all, it was Wednesday and we were finishing up out budget for Carol, Sam, and Francis to take a look at. After we made it up, we went to Carol a piece of paper with our rough calculations on it. Stuff like this happens when you work with Google Docs and have no internet. Regardless, we sent it out to them later to take a look at it, and they seemed to approve! It'll be exciting to buy all of the materials and put everything into action. Hopefully we'll be doing that this week in addition to field visits. The wifi should be back up in the office tomorrow, too!

Sugar Cane and Me

On Thursday, we went out to a testing event being held by Health Alert Uganda. Although I can't quite recall the name of the community, I can say that it took us a good amount of time to get there on pretty uneven roads. At the event, we tested a total of 180 individuals, 7 of which were HIV+. The event started at around 11 o'clock, and people were pouring in from all over, which was inspiring to see. Before things got into full swing, Josh, Clara, and I helped ourselves to some sugar cane. Turns out neither of us ate it properly. Josh was given bite sized pieces to chew on, while I just went at it and chewing and gnawing off the stringy parts. Clara managed to eat it properly as she took it easy and went one string at a time. By the end of it, my hands, face, and legs were covered in natural sugar. But it was well worth it!

After sitting around for another hour and witnessing person after person being tested, I asked if I could help in any way possible. Carol said I could help with documentation, which required that I sit next to the doctor for six straight hours without food, looking at the results and recording them on their respective forms. It was difficult to sit there on a hot day with an empty stomach, but it was worth it. Admittedly, it was a both exciting and scary to sit there and watch the results come in for everyone. The majority of those tested were negative, but, as I wrote before, a few were positive after being tested twice. As I wrote their results down, I couldn't help but say a little prayer for them. Even though HIV/AIDS can be treated and knowing their status is important, the possibility of their lives being affected negatively is just terrible to think about. Thankfully, HAU offers education and counseling to HIV positive individuals. I only hope for the best for them. 

HAU HIV/AIDS Testing Event 

When everything finished up, we watched a couple of old guys dancing shamelessly in front of everyone to the same music we've been listening to all day, with pouches of gin or vodka in their hands. One song in particular, "African Queen", has become our team's favorite. There's also "You Can Be My Wife". If you're really interested, try Youtube-ing them. Also, an old man stole my wild berry sour patch on the pretense that he'd share it with everyone. I'll never forget that. 

HIV Testing Materials 

Old Guy Dancing at Testing Event

After a long day, we went right back to the hotel to wash up and get ready for trivia night at a local place called BJs. We went with two HAU staffers, Julius and Emma. Our team's name was "Julius Maximus". We were sure we would win at first, answering the first few questions like "What organ in the body produces insulin" and "What does the 'L' stand for in Samuel L. Jackson's name." We really wanted to win a case of Nile Special or Green Mirinda, but sadly we didn't do well enough. It was alright, though, because the musical stylings of Nickelback and Macklemore managed to cheer us up.

On Friday, I finally understood the definition of "Gulu time". Emma and I had to go to a meeting at 9AM at CVAP's headquarters to discuss preliminary planning for the event with each other organization. Being American, I pushed to leave as soon as possible, so we got there around 9:30. Turns out that HAU would be the only other organization there until 11, when we finally started the meeting with 6 out of the 12 partner organizations. In the mean time, I got a chance to chat with one of the volunteers, Natasha, about our lives, work, and experiences with traveling and living in Uganda. Once it started, the meeting lasted over an hour. It was great getting to know the other organizations in the area, like Red Cross, the Gulu Youth Program, the Disabilities Center, though once I got back to the office I was exhausted. The journey back was a little rough. Following a pleasant visit to Gulu University to pick up Emma's transcripts, our motorbike broke down two minutes away from the office. We walked the bike back to HAU, where a couple of mechanics immediately jumped to work on it. Emma gave me leave to go eat with the team at our favorite Ethiopian restaurant. After lunch, we split and went to grab wifi to check emails, Facebook, and complete our personal tasks. 

Later that night, we successfully met up with the GROW Team at Columbia University. They arrived Wednesday night, and we grabbed a pork dinner at a local hotel. It was a pleasant visit and a nice opportunity to get to know them and Franny, another project officer from GWED-G. After dinner, we went back to the hotel to pass out early. 

Yesterday was nice as well. Each of us went out to the marketplace where Josh, Clara and I ordered more custom clothing to be made. Awesome shirts made to our measurements, costing about $10? Who would pass that up? Pictures are still being worked on for those shirts, so be prepared to see them in all their glory. After, we went to grab a quick lunch then headed back to the hotel for a bit, where I waited eagerly to Skype with my NumberOne Ceiling Adornment. We talked about random stuff for a couple of hours, and it was good to see her again. I'm sure she felt the same way :). 

Following the Skype session, I ran back to the hotel to change into pants and my African shirt. The plan was to go to a place called Diana's Gardens, though it started raining and we opted instead to go to Pagoda, where we usually go to abuse their wifi. The match started around 9:30 PM and was between Bayern Munich and Dortmund, with Munich winning in the end. Josh and I also had planned to get hammered, which we had successfully done. I'll spare everyone the details, but let's just say 20,000 schillings is more than enough to do the job. Again, everything ended up being under $10!

That's pretty much been my weekend with a lot of Game of Thrones reading done in between. Today has been relaxed as well: we've just been to breakfast, and I am now about to head back to the Diamond to enjoy some more reading.  Hope you enjoyed this post with all of its pictures! I'll keep you guys posted twice a week as I've said before, so look out for the next entry on Wednesday. 

Thanks for reading!

Zach (Lala)

GoT: 500 pages into the third book! I've finally caught up with the show, and as such I've been pressing myself to read even more because it's become that much more exciting. I really love how George Martin doesn't deal with any romantic Hollywood love crap. It's been no holds bard, and he never lets up on the struggle felt by each character. The book has become particularly exciting because at this point everything is coming together - Bran, Jon, Arya, Brienne above all. Sadly, not much more can be said because if small details are discussed, it may ruin the story!

Lala, the Savior

What's Happening Everyone?

If you're reading this, it's become obvious that I've survived my first weekend in Gulu, and there are two things that I've come to realize thus far. One, I need to take more pictures. Two, I need to be better about posting twice a week. It's harder than you think, though, and I'm very tempted to steal Josh's and Clara's pictures and post them to my blog. Of course they would be given all due credit, but that's the lazy man's way out. I'm not a lazy man, at least most of the time.

We didn't really do much on Friday night because we were all exhausted from work and traveling around the town. My big achievement of the day, following the IIRR and CVAP meetings, was that I finally managed to get my phone "registered" after work. When I got back to the hotel, we grabbed dinner then I proceeded to fall asleep after reading some Game of Thrones.

On Saturday, we all took the opportunity to walk around Gulu a bit more. We explored the marketplaces and some of Gulu's local supermarkets, may favorite of which was Uchumi, a market that had everything a white person needs for survival. The best part was finding a place where Josh and I ordered custom made shirts. Pictures of them will be posted soon, but let me say first that it is really colorful, button down, long-sleeved, and awesome looking. Let's just say I'll be wearing that to any club and bar from now until the shirt gets worn down too much to war it. After we ordered our shirts, we went out for lunch at this place called The Kitchen. For 12,000 UGX, or just over 5 dollars, we got to enjoy an all you can eat buffet full of delicious chicken, beans, and rice. When we finished, traveled back to the Hotel Diamond, where we all spent the rest of our day successfully doing our laundry for the first time. Thankfully, everything was still in place after I had left it unwatched for a few hours. At night, Clara and I went to Francis's house to celebrate his 40th birthday, which was the first time that he has ever celebrated the occasion. Everyone called him "Baby Francis", and he credited me with coming up with the idea of celebrating it before his actual birthday. We met a lot of great people, including the governor of the Gulu district, ate some delicious local foods, drank a little, and ate cake.

Sunday, we took it easy and went to a local coffee hut to abuse their free wireless internet. After checking our emails and getting something to eat, we went back to the hotel. It was a slow day, sure, and I managed to get closer to finishing GoT, but it marked the end to a successful first weekend. We were all alive and well.

Monday, we got to work and were given our Acholi names. Julia was named Abé, or beautiful, Josh was named Otim, or foreigner, Clara was named Lanyero for "always happy". Their names were nothing compared to mine, however. I was given the name Lala, which means "savior" in Acholi. We spent the day hanging out for the most part because working was difficult as we lacked wifi at the office. Without it, we were not able to access many of our planning google docs and budget sheets, so we just sat around for a bit, tanning outside and listening to some hardcore rap. We later had the opportunity to go to a funeral. Pamela, one of the officers at HAU, had just recently lost a nephew, which meant that she had also lost her own son according to tradition. It composed of preaching, viewing the body, and burying the coffin under piles of dirt that was thrown in by each of the guests. It was a very peaceful ceremony, and was quite similar to our own funerals back in the US. Afterwards, we went back to the hot and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Tuesday, we all went out on field visits to interview and follow up with seven HIV positive mothers who were recipients of our Mama Kits. It was one of the most inspiring experiences that I personally have ever witnessed thus far, as each mother thanked us for our support and told us that their very young children are HIV negative. It was also the first time that our team has visibly seen the impact that our fundraising has had in the local communities surrounding Gulu. We spent several hours moving from house to house, interviewing the mothers, and playing with the local kids. When we got back, our team split up. Clara and Julia went to visit Rosemary, one of our scholarship recipients, while Josh and I picked up our custom shirts. We wore them to the coffee shop, and we got a lot of head nods. One guy in particular ran over to us, got us both in a headlock, and expressed his love. Even the HAU staff appreciated their glory! Following this, I  traveled to speak with GWED-G's program director, Pamela. GWED-G is local NGO and partner of GlobeMed at Columbia University. Although she had recently gotten into an accident in Kampala, she was willing to talk to me about the nature of her partnership with Columbia. I learned a lot about their partnership, how strong their relationship has been, and how much of an impact they've had in the community.

After I headed back to the hotel, Josh convinced me to have a couple of drinks with him after a long day of work. It wasn't hard, and next thing we knew we were talking to a guy named Christopher, who made it clear to us that he spoke English really well (multiple times) and worked for the local government. It was a lively conversation about politics and the demographics of the north and south, and we made a good friend in the process

Today we've been spending a lot of time planning out our budget and our work plan to present to  Carol and the rest of the HAU staff. We've budgeted everything for the Youth Development Program, the Mama Kits, and the Scholarship program, with money left over for an internet subscription and other activities like the Sports Gala and fuel for HAU. Hopefully they'll accept it!

Alright, that's it for now. I'll try to keep up with blog posts more often, and I hope you guys continue to read them. Until next time!

Zach

GoT: Finished the second book in the series, and I have to say...It was amazing! So many things were different: the House of the Undying, Harrenhal, the Battle of Blackwater Bay, and Arya's more daring character. I've loved every second of it, though I think I've spent too much time blitzing through the books. Started book three, and I've loved it so far, and I'm also looking forward to the rest of season three!