I’m alive and in Uganda!! My team arrived Thursday night after about 24 hours of traveling. Over the past few days we’ve been recovering from jet lag, getting to know our hosts, and experiencing Kampala. We are loving it!
We are working and staying at Suubi House, which is an organization that reaches out to disabled children and their families in the community. In Uganda, children with special needs are believed to be victims of witchcraft, and if a mother gives birth to a special needs child they are looked down upon because they must’ve done something to have been cursed. At Suubi House, our wonderful hosts Sarah and Godfrey are trying to break that stereotype and offer resources and hope to those kids and their families.
On a day-to-day basis, that looks like holding a daycare for the kids and offering classes and bible studies to the mamas. My job is to teach nutrition classes (because the kids are extremely malnourished) and to teach the mamas about their children’s conditions. Many of the mamas may have an autistic child but have never heard of autism. They think that their child is a victim of a curse. I get to educate them on what autism, cerebral palsy, etc. actually are! I am super pumped to get started on this. We have our first official Suubi House day tomorrow!
Kampala itself has a fascinating culture. Obviously, there are not a ton of white people here, so when people see us, they exclaim, “Muzungu, muzungu!” which means white person. Everyone is very friendly and always asks, “Hi, how are you?” It’s so cool to be immersed in another culture that is so different from America. Ugandans operate on their own time, so according to our friend Ingrid, “If I say I’m going to meet someone at 10 then that means I wake up at 10.”
For all those worrying about my sanity—we have beds AND showers AND a toilet in our house, so it’s great. Also, almost everyone here speaks English, so we’re not completely out of our element. We are very fortunate for month one in Uganda—can’t wait to tell you more once everything gets rolling!
