Merry Christmas from Uganda !

These days we have been very few at Miles 2 Smiles – only 12 kids, and compared to what we have been used to with 200 it’s now a very quiet period at work . The Christmas-holiday starts much earlier than what we are used to in Norway. After the children have finished their exams, they are free to go for their holiday. Cause of that, already from the begging of the month people leaves Kampala to go their families in the village.

Although we have had a very nice week with the children at Miles 2 Smiles. They have been allowed to play with the few toys we have available (since it have been enough to all of them), and also letting them stay at the office while we have been working with the paper we had to deliver during this week.  Music, dancing, laughter and joy at the office this week !

Benedicte and I have chosen to write about the health system in Uganda – which is VERY different from what we are spoiled with in Norway. In that conjunction, we interviewed a doctor-student and visited Mulago Hospital – The biggest public hospital in Uganda.  From what we have been told- and what we have seen: We have NOTHING to complain about in Norway. A line-system not working and corruption as a big concern “Survival the fittest” is unfortunately a reality here in Uganda…

The week ended with a Microfinance-Party where the men and women got an envelope with all the money they have saved during this year. It was wonderful to see the how proud they were about the money they had made. Next year, Benedicte and I will join one of the saving-groups so that we can understand- and learn more about Microfinance in general. I will save money every week so that I will be able to pay school-fees to one of the children graduating from Miles 2 Smiles next year. When I know more about Microfinance myself, I will write a own blogpost about that.

We will spend our Christmas here in Kampala with the CHRISC- and CRO-girls celebrating it "Norwegian-style" the 24. and "Ugandan-style" the 25. After that, we will go to Tanzania to climb Kilimanjaro and reach the top as we enter the new year 2012. Infield in Kenya after that. Many plans the next weeks, so I will not blog for a long time.

Enjoy this christmas-movie made by my talented team-partner; Vegge !

I wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy new year ! Love from Uganda.

"Back in business" - Exams, Workshop, Outing, Marathon and Christmas-/Graduation-Party !

Long time no blogpost. After our week off, we are back in business – our daily life in Kampala ! We have had a LOT to do these 2 weeks, and blogging has therefore not been prioritized. Although - time for a little summary from our past two weeks !  The weeks have been flowing away, and they have been great !

From being lazy for a hole week we came back to work at Miles2Smiles in the period of exams.  For me – used to the Norwegian school-system it sounds very strange to test 3-5 year old children for their skills in that early age. Tasks about alphabet, counting (1-20) and writing where tested. Although it sounds very “serious” with an exam, it’s seems like it is more about to see how much the children have learnt during the year – and that’s a good thing ! The kids finished their exams during the Monday and Tuesday, and the rest of the week went to playing with 200 children in 6 hours ! Intensive, but extremely good to be back to our days at Miles 2 Smiles filled with laughter, joy and happiness !

The weekend arrived and MTN-marathon, workshop- and outing with the staff was on the menu. Saturday, the workers at Miles2Smiles gathered to have a workshop. Benedicte and I were during these 4 hours teaching about Norwegian ways of raising and teaching- children, and we also held an open discussing for how to make the schooling better – an interesting day !

We started Sunday 27. November singing the first verse of the Norwegian Advent-song “Tenn lys” – a quarter past 5 in the morning ! 7 o’clock started the MTN-marathon. About 20 000 people, wearing a yellow t-shirt ran 10, 21 or 42 km. for clean water for Amuria. I finished my first half-marathon with style – sweat and fresh interviewed by two Ugandan television-companies !

A new week arrived and pasted, and a new weekend was ahead. The big happening this weekend was the Christmas- and graduation-party. All of the 200 children with their family were invited. The children have been practicing for weeks and where ready to sing- and dance for their parents. Vegge and I had also prepared a Christmas-play about Jesus in a manger with Aunty Jowe and her middle-class (4-5 years old); Vegge was telling the story, Mary, Joseph, the tree wise men, sheep’s, shepherds, angles and me as the donkey acted as Hollywood-actresses ! The play turned out to be very successful. The children preformed excellent, both at the play but also with their other singing- and dancing performances. The children were excited preforming, and their parents was of course: Proud audience ! 

Benedicte and I have been in Uganda for 2 months now – almost 1/3 of our internship. We have been told- many though stories, experienced new and rough impressions daily, and have also got to see “a new world”, presentable for so many people in this world, but not imaginable from my life in Norway. Though, much of our days have been filled with laughter, smiles- and hugs from children gasping for more attention, happiness and joy. We have been lucky to be a part of a extremely important work in an community-based organization focusing helping both children and their families to give rise to a brighter day and future. It has been 2 months about learning from each other, sharing ideas, but most of all been filled by gratefulness. Thankfulness has got a new meaning during this stay …