June 2009
26 posts
Going Home!
After spending the last three days in Nairobi, our final destination before we fly home, we have begun to mull over the question we know we’ll hear hundreds of times: “How was your trip?” Having visited 18 projects, criss-crossed East Africa, risked our lives more times than we care to tell our parents about, and met thousands of incredible people (literally), we know that it would be...
Five Things We Never Expected to Find at a Water...
5. A water park with a stereo stuck on repeat. “When a man loves a woman…”
4. A water park where the ground is essentially gravel (not exactly ideal for hundreds of barefoot guests).
3. A water park that asks you to create an itemized list of everything you put in your locker (tampons, t-shirts, pennies, etc.)
2. A water park that has no life guards manning slides, creating a free for all where...
Educate, Mobilize, and Empower Tanzania’s...
Location: Moshi, Tanzania
After visiting over 15 projects and traveling throughout East Africa, we have been struck, time and time again, by the lack of facilities and infrastructure for the disabled. Almost no buildings, public or private, have wheelchair access and seeing disabled member of society crawling or dragging themselves on the ground is not an uncommon sight. Sadly, the needs of the...
Educate 500 Orphans and Needy Children in...
Location: Rufiji District, Tanzania
Today we met the president, three doctors, a few parliamentarians, and an engineer. Well, they weren’t these things yet, but, thanks to CAMFED, the students of 10 districts across Tanzania will have the opportunity to achieve their dreams. CAMFED partners with local schools to sponsor children that would otherwise be unable to afford schooling by providing...
HeroRATS:Saving African Lives & Curbing TB Spread-...
“Hi, my name’s Rosie, I’m a HeroRAT. They tell me I’m saving lives by sniffing out landmines, which is all well and good, but I’m just in it for the bananas. Ever since I was little they have been teaching me how to find landmines and how to tell the people where they are. It’s a pretty good gig; I scratch myself and I get some food. Soon I get to go to Mozambique where I’ll get to find real...
Ode to Morogoro Regional Hospital
Saturday Alexis gets sick.
Alexis goes to hospital.
No doctor at hospital, it’s a weekend.
Nurse gives Alexis phone number.
Alexis calls doctor.
Doctor is in a loud place, says “text me!”
Alexis texts doctor bodily problems.
Doctor texts Alexis diagnosis and prescription.
Alexis goes to pharmacy.
Alexis shows text to pharmacist.
Pharmacist gives Alexis drugs.
Hooray! Alexis is better.
Always an...
Location: Somewhere in Western Tanzania
We left Kigali in the morning to get an early start,
We were trekking to Mwanza, we thought we were smart.
Four hours on the minibus was quite a pain,
But we made it to the border as it started to rain.
The fellow mzungu (white person) who picked us was funny,
When she dropped us she reminded us that we had no money.
She exchanged some cash and she sent us on our way,
On to Kahama where we wanted...
Feeding and Educating 50,000 Orphans in Rwanda:...
Location: Kigali, Rwanda
Help Rwandan School Children, run by CHF International, empowers Rwanda’s unsung heroes, the men and women that better the lives of the country’s many orphaned and vulnerable children, by providing them with financial resources and skills training. Theogere, a 26-year old, who has been caring for his two younger brothers since his parents passed away almost a decade ago,...
Location: Southwest Rwanda
According to our Lonely Planet guide book, there are five things you “must do” in Rwanda:
#1-See the gorillas. Too expensive
#2-Kigali Memorial Center. Been there.
#3-Rwanda National Museum. Done that.
#4-Gisenyi. Beach vacation sounds nice!
#5-Parc National Nyungwe Forrest. Never been to a rainforest before!
We had heard that Rwanda was a short four hour drive across. According to our...
Sports to Empower Women & Girls in Rwanda: Project...
Location: Kaninya School, Rwanda
As we stood amidst throngs of students (many of which were boys) that had gathered to watch their female classmates play football, we joined the noisy cheering. At the Kanyinye School, two of the top girls teams, ages 8-12 years old, faced off in a match that could not have possibly happened without AKWOS, the organization implementing this project. According...
Rwanda Conscious Social Change Program: Project...
Location: Kigali, Rwanda
During our brief time in Rwanda, we have heard about a broad range of problems: young girls being attacked in latrines; female business owners unable to read, write, or use a calculator; disabled women trading sex for water; women forced into prostitution to afford food for their children; and many others. How can one organization possibly address such a broad range of...
May 2009
47 posts
Housing to Empower Rwanda’s Future Leaders:...
Location: Kigali and Butare, Rwanda
During our two day visit with Orphans of Rwanda International (ORI), we spent most of our time hanging out and talking with ORI scholars at their group homes. As two college kids ourselves, we felt right at home. As the students joking pointed out to us who was the “mom” or “dad” of the house, we began to understand what Yvet, the Director of Career...
Location: Kigali, Rwanda
Despite the beauty of the lush hills of Rwanda, and the progress visible in the streets of Kigali, it is impossible and, indeed, irresponsible, to forget the tragedy which ravaged this nation 15 years ago. As two students studying African conflict in school, we have seen and heard much of the Rwandan genocide of 1994, in which 800,000 people were brutally murdered in just 100 days. We have seen...
Providing Bednets to 200,000 Ugandans (#1732)
Location: Kisiizi, Uganda
While discussing the bed net project with the director of the Kisiizi hospital, Dr. Tonny, he explained that “it is simple things like mosquito nets that you can’t find money for.” With support from GlobalGiving, that money has been found, and it is making a substantial difference. Founded in 1958, the Kisiizi Hospital lacked bed nets, despite the high prevalence of...
Provide Education to AIDS Orphans in Rural Uganda:...
Location: Kambuga, Uganda
While talking to a couple students about their experiences at Nyaka AIDS Orphans School, we were inspired by their impressive intellect, self confidence, and curiosity which exemplified the importance of this school in their lives. Christine, now in grade 7, lost both parents when she was two months old. Since, Christine has lived with her grandmother. She told us that if...
Project FOCUS: Art for Development in Uganda:...
Location: Lyantonde, Uganda
For Julius, a 7th grader in Lyantonde, Uganda, the visit by Project FOCUS to his school marked the first time he had ever done arts and crafts. This was made possible by the generosity of GlobalGiving donors. Before Project FOCUS got involved at Prince Primary School, like most schools in Uganda, art consisted of copying drawings from the board. Project FOCUS redefined...
Check out our plans for tomorrow!
After a hectic six hour drive, sitting on laps, behind chickens, and four different drivers, we finally made it to Lyantonde. Grant, the project leader, told us about the website for the primary school his organization is supporting (through GlobalGiving funds). You can check it out at www.princeprimary.blogspot.com. We’ll tell you our thoughts tomorrow!
Location: Kasubi, Uganda
Yesterday was a day of superlatives. We saw the biggest thatched hut on earth, the oldest stuffed leopard in the world, and the first steel cannon in Uganda. We weren’t at a museum. We were at the Kasubi Tombs, the burial place of the last four kings of Buganda. The Buganda Kingdom, which has been preserved sine the 13th century, makes up the largest ethnic group (6 million people) in Uganda....
Location: Entebbe, Uganda
In 1976, an AirFrance flight from Israel was hijacked by terrorists and flown to Entebbe Airport in Uganda. The plot was assisted by Uganda’s brutal ruler Idi Amin, who was sympathetic to the terrorists. As over 100 Israeli and Jewish hostages waited in the “old terminal” at the airport, the Israeli Air Force worked around the clock to orchestrate one of the most successful counter-terrorist...
Provide Piped Water to 5,000 in Uganda: Project...
Location: Mpigi, Uganda
At first we thought it was some child’s sculptural masterpiece made of sticks, strings, and a plastic container; but we quickly learned that this was the tippy tap, one of KDF’s ingenious and lifesaving inventions. KDF is the organization implementing the “Provide Piped Water to 5,000 in Uganda.” The tippy tap, used for hand washing, is one of the many home-grown...
On the way to Entebbe airport to see what is there from the daring Israeli raid which successfully freed over 100 hostages in 1976.
Slipping and sliding on some of the muddiest roads I have ever been on to get to the Buwama piped water project. Reminds me of driving in Vermont in winter!
We just saw a “tippy-tap”, an invention of the Buwama Piped Water Project using a jerrycan, sticks, and string to make a handwashing machine for rural homes to wash hands after using the toilet.