….I finally got to the internet cafe.  Apologies for the disappearance for a week, it’s been pretty much go go go the second we got to JFK.

So since I only have a total of 16minutes and 25 secs on my computer I’ll have to pick out some highlights of the trip so far.

After a total of 14 hours of flying, 3 hours of layover in Amsterdam, 3 mini bottles of complimentary wine, and lots of talk of bodily functions later, we arrived in Entebbe very, very exausted.  Fortunately, several students and staff members were there to welcome us with huge hugs and smiles, so that picked up our spirits immediately.

The first few days were fairly overwhelming, there are a total of about 20-30 kids that live in the house between ages 8-18yrs old.  They all welcome us each time we see them, every morning, every night, and every time we come back from a day trip.  I couldn’t really imagine hugs about 3 times a day per person to everyone I knew back home. 

We visited Rakakai (my spelling is most likely off) a small village about 4 hours away from Kampala.  It’s a rural village, and it is where the first place of AIDS was recorded.  There, every family was affected by AIDS.  We bought with us Sunu, an INCREDIBLY bright pre-teen girl, Mathias, and Sunday, the budding photographer who has not let me by without asking something about photography everyday.  We were welcomed in a royal fashion with all the kids dancing and singing for us, followed by a formal introduction of all of the village aunties and uncles as well as introductions of ourselves.  Afterwards, we had an amazing feast and toured the farm, which had coffee, jackfruit, avocados—it was amazing.  The resources here are unbelievable, but unfortunately there is very little corporation between the farmers, so they end unbidding the other and driving their prices ridiculously low.  Then there are about 5 middle men before it gets to your local Starbucks.  Dr. Jay spent the entire trip brainstorming with the men of the village how they could set up some sort of corporation between the farmers.

We visited a boy named Allison’s home next.  When we entered his home, we found his mother, Victoria, gathered with other women of the village.  She was very sick, the doctors had told her she had cancer.  Allison showed Dr. Jay some of her X-rays and the medicine she had been taking.  He looked at the x-rays and charts, and told Allison that his mother had cervical cancer that, unfortunately, had already spread.  It was amongst one of the many moments we have had on this trip of true sorrow. Dr. Jay told him that there was nothing he could do for his mother.  I explained to Monica (also known as Mommy Monica, one of the staffers at LEADUganda) what Jason had said, and just about how cancer is a disease that even Americans don’t know how to cure all the time.  We let her know how important it is to get tested at least once a year and do self breast exams regularly.

A bunch of the girls had asked to pray with Victoria, but we were running last, and so we missed our chance.  Ever since that day, I think a lot of the women have had Victoria on our minds.  Unfortunately, we learned last night that she has lost conscienceness.

We did start the seminars yesterday at the house, which was a bit nerveracking.  Mainly because I’ve never taught before.  Since we ran about an hour and a half late yesterday, we had only about 40 minutes to teach our groups, and we didn’t even get that 40 minutes by the time the last group came around.  All in all, the classes are going well.  The older kids are in general very interested in photography.  I give them books with photography in them, they look through them, and as they do I ask what photos they like the most, why, and what other places photography is used.  Then we go over how a camera works and how to use it, and then I send them out on their assignment.  The first day was to photograph love (little Rahem adored the concept and came back with 11 pictures that completed the assignment) and today was to take a portrait of each other.  Some the pictures came out pretty good.

There is soooo much missing from this post, although it is incredibly long.  If I were you, I’d just split it up into sections and read it at work.  The kids are incredible, but at the same token, they still are very much kids.  But I think the general censis is that we are learning far more than the kids are learning.  None of us are looking forward to our return to NYC, unless there will be small children hugging us, awesome food, and some serious hip-shaking, if anyone wants to arrange that, that would be great!

-Ferris