Update

It's been a while since I've updated all of you about our day-to-day activities; sorry about that. The funny thing about being here is that everything is so immediate that it's hard to remember that there are people back home waiting for news.

The week has been busy for both teams. Karine, Linda, Faye, Ecko, Lauren and Bree spent all week organizing, supporting, empowering and assisting at Sanyu. Erika and Kath taught teachers at the Resource Centre and there was much laughter for the science teachers especially as they did all kinds of funky experiments. Several very well-dressed, very proper teachers were soaked with water due to Erika's mad science lessons... much to their delight, of course.

Wednesday night after work took the team to Cafe Pap, a posh coffee shop which provided a much needed caffeine dose for several members. The journey -- all of 5 kilometers -- took us approximately 80 minutes. Part of this was due to a small Sanyu detour to pick up a forgotten purse, but the main reason it took so long was because of the incredible Kampala night traffic. All the team members will have video or pics of the adventure, but until you've actually experienced it you can't really know what it's like. Various members of our team have been in China, Italy, France, Spain, Brazil, Chile and Mexico; all agreed that the traffic jams here are the craziest around. It was terribly amusing for all.

Once we finally made it to the coffee shop (which thankfully stayed open until 2300 or I personally would have broken in) we enjoyed interacting with the friendly and knowledgeable staff. Most of us only had beverages but Bree had some french fries (she said she was craving "normal food") and I had a wonderful chicken samosa. All who went enjoyed the ambiance and treats.

Thursday was a special evening out for most of the team members. We went and had dinner with Sally at her wonderful King's Daughters Ministries. Sally is an amazing woman who has taken nearly 3o young girls off the streets or out of very traumatic situations and brought them into her home to provide them with safety and love. She provides meals and clothing, teaches them life skills and a trade, and provides money for school fees so that they can continue or attend school. She does this without any governmental assistance, mind you, and relies exclusively on the generosity of donors.

After a numerous greeting and welcomes, we enjoyed a lovely communal meal. This was followed by spiritual singing, speeches, prayer and more singing (at Karine's request :) ). Everyone had a marvelous time and we were also able to present Sally and her charges with two huge hockey bags of donations for her home. It was over all too soon and, after a brief (ha ha) journey through downtown Kampala traffic, we arrived home at the resource centre safe and sound.

Friday saw all but Kath and Erika head for Sanyu for a follow-up and finish-up morning. After an emotional farewell we headed back to to the resource centre for the open house -- it's still going on as I write, in fact. The open house has been a chance for us to wear our newly made custom-tailored African outfits (I love my shirt) and connect with the students and teachers we've met over the last two weeks. Tomorrow we're off on safari to Queen Elizabeth park.

I have several photos ready to go up on the blog but it's very hard to get them up so please be patient with me.