Humanitarian Aid

There is a lot of controversy over aid and whether it does any good. Some scholars have found that it helps while others have found that it not only does not help, but hinders economic growth. As for my opinion, and especially after seeing development problems first hand, I believe aid can benefit individuals if you know exactly how the funds are reallocated. Before we left for Uganda Jordyn and I decided we wanted to do a mini humanitarian aid mission (on the side, since we were really there to do research) which consisted of acquiring school and medical supplies to be given to an orphanage and health center. We were lucky to get around 4 suitcases worth of donated supplies. Also, through generous donations we received close to $260 to go towards needs as we saw fit. With those funds we were able to do some amazing things. We bought 2 nebulizers and gave them to two different health centers in the rural areas around Kampala. In Uganda, thousands of children die because of asthma--something preventable. The problem is that they just don't have access to inhalers. Ssimbwa, our contact person who took us out to the health center, had a daughter die from an asthma attack which made our donation feel that much more real.

                                               (Ssimbwa, Jo, and a nun @ the health clinic)

Also, there is a big problem with children passing exams in primary school(K-6) in order to go on to secondary school (7-12). The problem is that the children who go to primary school don't receive any support from their parents because their parents believe that since the government is providing free schooling they should also provide everything else like school meals and supplies. However, the government doesn't fund lunches or supplies so when it comes to math class many students don't have their geometry sets, which consist of a ruler, pencil, compass, protractor, eraser etc. which are not very expensive but they don't have them because of their parents' ignorance. They need their sets during their exam but since only a couple have them they have to share which takes too much time to score well. So, we bought 138 geometry sets and had them sent to a couple different schools. Hopefully those students will do better on their tests next time around.

                                        (Ssimbwa's family and us holding up geometry sets)


So, I got the opportunity to visit northern Uganda for a couple of days and interview LRA abductees. It was a very humbling experience. We met Samson while we conducted the interviews because he worked at the hotel that we were doing them at. The LRA tried to abduct him but he put up a fight and got away. However, he lot his left eye and three front teeth in the scuffle. He told us that he was sick of people making fun of him because he had no front teeth. He was a hard worker and real sincere so we decided to get him some teeth. You should have seen him beam when we told him what we were going to do! He was so, so grateful.

 (Samson before and after shot)

In Kampala, there was a cool guy that we met from the ward in Kololo. His name is Bryan and he was preparing for his mission. He recently lost both of his parents in the 2010 terrorist attacks and was living with his handicap grandma and little sister. He delivered pineapples and mangoes to us that he grew on his farm in order to make some extra money. He was in need of a couple suitcases and clothes for his mission so we helped by buying him some suitcases. He got his call mid July and is going to the Durban, South Africa mission. He is currently there and serving the Lord faithfully despite the hardships and trials he had to endure. We are very proud of him!

                                                                     (Bryan and I)


These few stories were just the tip of the development ice burg. There is so much need and so little we can do about it. It is something that has been troubling Jordyn and I because the more we studied development the more we realized just how complicated of a problem it was. Many times we felt that our efforts were deeply insignificant compared to how much need there is and we got discouraged because of it. However, after being home, and reflecting on the happenings in Uganda we have realized that the only way to develop countries suffering from poverty, famine, disease, and conflict is by spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ. The blessings that a person receives from living the gospel will outweigh any amount of aid. It is comforting to know that there is a Father in Heaven who is concerned about his children's needs and wants and is waiting to bless them according to their faith and works. We are so grateful for the knowledge of the gospel and have seen so many prayers answered in miraculous ways. It is nice to know that the church is the same no matter what continent you are in. We love you all very much and are very grateful for all of your support and help in our adventures!

Wet and happy

 We did lots of research this week. Jordyn has been figuring out the best way to track attendance from 13 rural schools levels P5-P7 (equivalent of 4-6th grade). I have been surveying people and trying to get them to open a savings account with local partner SACCO's. It's a bit exhausting at times but what makes it all worth it is at the end of the day we all get together and do group dinners while sharing experiences for the day. Weekends are sacred here since we only have so many of them and since there are lots of places to go and things to do. This past weekend we probably did one of the coolest things all summer. We rafted the Nile!!! It was like early Christmas to me since the last white-water rapid trip I took was as a scout. It was an all day thing and they fed us meals along the river at different check points. We hit 8 rapids in total with the highest rapid at 16-20 feet. My favorite part was when we went over the mini waterfall and when we flipped the raft! When you fall out and submerge it feels like you are underwater for an eternity even though in reality it is only a few seconds. Needless to say it was a good adrenaline boost. We also had fun swimming and pushing each other off of the raft. I can't believe we only have 2 weeks left in Africa ahhh!! This place is beginning to grow on us already.

Waka, waka

These past two weeks have been crazy!! I know, pretty lame excuse for not blogging, but it seems like things were just happening one after another. Two weeks ago, I left Jordyn to spend 3 and a half days in the northernmost part of Uganda in a city called Gulu. It was (what I thought was) a rigorous 5 hour drive (on the post bus) from Kampala. I went up there helping out the group that is doing interviews with LRA abductees. I got to interview 17 former abductees. Some of these women were in the bush more than 14 years! I was in awe and my heart broke when I heard some of their stories. It is so sad what some of these people had to live through. The wife of one of the top LRA commanders was wearing a really beautiful necklace and I wanted to get one for Jordyn but she bought it out of town somewhere, so she sold it to me right off of her neck! I was thrilled and Jordyn seemed to like it, both because it is beautiful and sentimental. I got home Thursday afternoon, only to turn around and drive half-way back up and much farther west Friday morning for the safari with the rest of the group.

It was a 2 day ordeal. We got out in the middle of nowhere and camped in tents at this safari outpost right next to the national park. We went out late afternoon until evening and saw some amazing animals: elephants, giraffes, cob, warthogs, water buffalo, hippos, heart beast, cranes, wild dogs, baboons, impalas, and at the last minute, a lion. I really wanted to see a leopard but they are really hard to track down.  The next day we drove down to the bank of the Nile, the one coming from Lake Albert (since there are two sources of the Nile; one coming from Albert the other coming from Victoria) and got on a boat for a little cruise up to the falls. The boat ride was relaxing as we saw hippos, crocodiles, cranes, monkeys, and eagles. Murchison falls was pretty fantastic. The boat let us off right next to the falls and we went on a short 1 mile hike up the side of the falls and had a wonderful upfront view of all the power and force of the millions of gallons of water barreling down the rock cliff. It was amazing! After the hike we headed back for a night in our Kampala beds. 

The next day we all woke up at 6am and jumped in the bus for the 2^nd half of our group trip: Rwanda! I thought it was a long drive to our Safari, but after Sunday’s trip, it didn’t seem that bad. We left at 7 am and got into Kigali, Rwanda at 12am, haha. Of course we stopped for church at a local branch along the way but it was at least a 12-13 hour drive. The roads and infrastructure in Rwanda are so much better than Uganda!! It was weird seeing the contrast because I thought most of Africa would look the same or have the same problems like corruption or poor infrastructure. Of course, I knew things would be slightly different, but I didn’t expect to see all the roads paved nicely and there was almost no trash along the sides of the road. It was just an overall amazingly clean place. The air was much cleaner…probably because each vehicle wasn’t putting out the enough exhaust to cause instant global warming (as is the case in Kampala). After being in Uganda for so long (and for Jordyn, add in Tonga), driving on the right side of the road again was a little weird. 

Tyler signing out, Jordyn signing in

Monday morning we all slept in a little so that we could a) recover from our travels, and b) be in good spirits for the day that was before us. Our first stop was the Kigali Genocide Memorial. Outside there are something like 13 mass graves with, in all, around 250 bodies that have been gathered from other burial sites. They are still building some and will continue to exhume and relocate bodies to the memorial as they are discovered. Just finding the bodies is quite a task in itself because so many people were just dumped by the side of the road, thrown into latrines, or buried in randomly located shallow graves. Inside the building was a museum. 

Part 1 talked about the history of the Rwandan genocide and included several different parts. The first section was a historical account of the events leading up to, including, and following the genocide. There were also three more separate rooms: a room with thousands of pictures of the victims (along with a few notes written by survivors to ones they had lost), a room with remains (including skulls and other bones, clothes, and other personal items), and a children’s room (highlighting a few of the children who had been killed). 

Part 2 was dedicated to all of the other genocides that had happened in the last century: Nazi Germany, Armenia, the Balkans, Bosnia, and Cambodia. One of my favorite quotes came from Thomas Burgenthal, an Auschwitz survivor, in reference to the Armenian genocide. He said, “I don’t know why the Turks can’t admit it, express sorrow and go on. That’s the worst. You do all these things to the victim and then you say it never happened. That is killing them twice.” It really struck me because the Turks aren’t the only ones who have tried to bury the past. Out of all the genocides mentioned at the museum, they all happened in my lifetime except for the Holocaust, and that is the only one I had heard anything about until this year! I actually left the memorial feeling more angry than sad. Angry that in all my schooling not one teacher had ever mentioned the atrocities that had happened so recently in this worlds’ history. Is there nothing we can learn from the recent past?

Anyway, after a quick lunch back at our hotel we headed out of town to another memorial site. This place much less organized and sugarcoated. The old catholic church we visited was the ground zero for the death of 5000 people on April 15, 1994. In past years, people had sought shelter in the church and on its grounds and had been safe from rebel forces. As the people gathered in and around the church, grenades were thrown into the building, and the surviving were killed with machetes or other tools. The bones, clothing, and personal items of the people who were killed in that church were still there. Despite having been somewhat organized, it was still very dark, dirty, and emotionally raw. Only 18 years ago, those bones had been living breathing human beings. Now they sit on a shelf—a  symbol of the terrible hate our fellow men are capable of. After the church we went on to eat dinner at the Hotel Des Mille Collines, otherwise known as “Hotel Rwanda.” It was hard to imagine that we were sitting outside the hotel where so many lives were saved as we munched on our Panini’s and apple pie. Needless to say, the day left me with a lot to think about.

The next morning we woke up fairly early and went out to Kibuye Lake. It was beautiful! Rwanda has such a beautiful landscape. It really earns its nickname, “Land of a Thousand Hills.” These hills were on the verge of mountains, and the people are not daunted. They farm right up the side! The bus ride was a long 3ish hours, but well worth it. We found a boat to take us out on the lake, but we soon jumped ship…literally! We all just jumped out of the boat and into the lake. Some fully clothed, some we wish had been more clothed… Anyway, after that we got back on the bus and started home. After asking several times, the driver finally pulled over to take a picture. As luck would have it, we looked down the hill to find small groups of children singing, which turned into dancing, which turned into the majority of the group running/falling/leaping down the hill to join them. It was so much fun to watch and we got some incredible video and photos to show everyone who stayed back in Kigali to get massages, haha.

The ride back was just as miserable as the ride there, but probably a little worse since I was sick. I continued to be sick for a few more days, and that’s about all I’ve done for the week. Tyler also joined the sick boat about a day after me. There was one good thing about coming back though, and I have to go on a little tangent to explain it. The day before we left for safari, I got my hair braided.(see life jacket pic above) Nice, eh? I thought so. Anyway, after a week, it was REALLY itchy. Getting it washed was probably the best feeling in the whole world.

So there you have it. Good work. You made it through that grueling post. Now, as Coach P would say, “ Go do something nice for someone.”

The Frog Prince and other "African" tales

So, not too much has happened over the past week. The rest of the BYU squad arrived, so we’ve had about 20 students plus Professor Mike and his 11-year-old daughter Andrea since the beginning of the week. Everyone has been hard at work getting their projects set up, and that has been quite a task. For several groups, that may be the hardest part of the whole trip! 

It’s been a little discouraging for Tyler’s group (the micro-savings project) because they are still having trouble getting a bank to work with them. They have gone to MANY banks in the Kampala area looking for someone to partner with, but nothing so far. There are a couple banks who appear promising, but we don’t want to get our hopes up. They’ve got a great idea, so I hope someone works out soon!

Me, I sometimes wish I were in the same boat. Kelly and I have been doing nothing but going! We have been teaching at the schools for the last week. So far we have taught at 9 schools, wow! There have been a few days where it has been really discouraging because we are trying so hard to help these girls but are having a hard time communicating. We chose to go to more rural schools because the people in the villages have less money and the girls probably can’t afford disposable sanitary pads. The problem is, they also don’t speak English very well. In fact, I learned just last week that most of the rural school do not start teaching English until the kids are about 11! Since our target population consists of girls ages 13 and 14, they haven’t had much time to become proficient. It’s been a real blessing to have Olivia and Moses along with us to help translate, but that has been a bit of a struggle as well. We have questionnaires for the girls to fill out, but because many of them struggle with English, they must be translated. I worry that some of the girls are not putting their true feelings because they are either being led by the translators, or they don’t know how to express themselves in English. Our professor helped us to feel better about that when he told us that surveys really aren’t that reliable even if your participants speak English, haha. Overall, I think it has been a worthwhile project. The teachers are very welcoming as we come around asking for their permission. The only thing I wish I had more of was money. It would have been really nice to give supplies to all of the girls in each school we go to, but the average university students’ pocket is not quite deep enough for that. Hopefully something good information will come of this project and we can find more funding for products for the schools in the future.

On a lighter note…well, technically darker…Tyler and I, along with Professor Mike and his daughter Andrea went frog hunting last night. We found a few small ones when we went to get the laundry, and while I was hanging it up to dry, Tyler went back out and kept looking. He found a nice fat one for me to catch, and I think it took him significantly longer to convince me to actually catch it than it took to find it! I'm just glad I didn't have to kiss one to get my "prince". Now that we know how plentiful the frog population is here, I foresee some pranking in the near future…

Also, Tyler and I discovered how NOT to make peanut sauce today. Blugchk! I have really got to stop experimenting. It never ends well.

the little things

A very interesting thing happened to me this morning. I was heading to the Humanitarian missionaries flat to send a fax and as I entered through the gate I saw the gardener in the front courtyard. His name is Isaac and is a recent convert. He is maybe 17 or 18 and has the goofiest grin when you talk to him. I really enjoy him. Anyways, we chatted very briefly and our conversation went as follows: “Hey Isaac how are you?!” “Your welcome, I’m good.  Where is your wife?”  “Oh, she’s in Mokono district today doing work with schools.”  “Oh, is that hard, you miss her?”  “It is only 6 hours or so, not too bad.”  Our conversation about died right there so I turned to head up the stairs and as I turned, he said “Thank you for loving each other.” He said it in such a sincere and respected way that really hit me. It was a moment that made me want to chuckle because the way he said, which was not equivalent to my American English, but the solemnity of the moment got the better of me…and a few steps later it sunk in: “That boy realizes more about the sacredness of marriage and loving someone than I do!”

That simple sentence definitely caught me by surprise. I have been dwelling on it the whole day. It caught me by surprise because I would never have heard that in the States or any other Western country for that matter (where the family is truly under attack). It made me think about the Ugandan culture and more so the Christian culture which is obviously very conservative when it comes to marriage and moral truth. I’ve been impressed with the people here, their kindness and generosity, even just saying a simple hello while passing people on the roadside. Apparently, Isaac’s goofy grin is contagious because I sure did have a goofy and very happy grin on my face walking away from him. Now I know that love and companionship IS such a sought after thing!  I’m pretty sure I’ve always known that but It just took a Ugandan boy to get me to understand it in such a simple and clear manner; just as was his simple and clear remark.: “Thank you for loving each other.”

Krazy Kampala and Krocs

This past week has literally blown by. Here in Kampala, most of the roads are dirt so when mini taxi buses come storming by we get a mouthful of red dust!  We don’t mind however since it is all a part of the cultural experience, but we are indeed grateful for our cue tips and pumice stone (for our feet)!  There is a lot of walking involved and there aren’t really any sidewalks so whenever we walk by the roadside we have learned to keep very still because traffic passes by us about a foot away. Let’s see, something that happened this past week: we got to see Lake Victoria and close by we visited a crocodile farm! Apparently they have a few farms in order to sell them for meat and skins. The guy caught a croc for us and we held it!! It was fantastic, probably even better than eating crocodile later. It was kinda chewy…

All in all, our week was great! We worked hard setting up our project and are realizing that things don’t always work out as fast as you would like. There is definitely a “Uganda time” here and it is not uncommon to have an appointment or meeting set that gets delayed haha. However, for the branch that we attend for church, the meeting starts spot on. We are very impressed! Oh, so we are getting to know the couple missionaries very well (there are a lot of them). Apparently this mission encompasses Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Tanzania, Rwanda, and Burundi. Missionaries can’t go into Sudan and in Rwanda the government is just on the verge of recognizing our church so missionaries will be sent soon, yay! The church is strong here in Uganda and the missionaries are baptizing around 50 members a year in our branch. There is one stake, a couple wards and a couple branches.  Well that’s all for now, hope everyone is doing well stateside, Lots of Love!

Walk like an Egyptian...or ride, if you will

We had a 10 hour layover in Cairo, and we really didn't want to stay in the airport the whole time, so we took our chances with the crazy driving and went to see the pyramids in Giza. I was a bit skeptical about leaving the airport with all the happenings of late, but Tyler thought it was safe enough so out we went! The second we began to leave the airport, we had drivers all over us trying to get us to use them. It was only the beginning of a long day of "No's", "No thank you's", "No, merci's", and any other number of rejecting phrases. The Egyptians are VERY pushy, and it was exhausting. Anyway, we ended up taking a taxi and our driver was very nice but spoke very little English. The pyramids were very cool, but I must say the discovery channel makes them seem a lot cooler, and the sphinx was especially anti-climatic, but the face that we saw them in real life was still sweet.

I think learning about the history and how they built them is what really makes them cool. We also took the chance to ride some camels. Tyler's camel was named "Moses" and mine was "Mickey Mouse."

Awesome! After about an hour and a half, Tyler and I were both hot, sweaty, and tired of fighting off the people trying to take our money so we got back in the taxi and snoozed for part of the drive home.

We waited a couple more hours in the airport before boarding the plane to Entebbe Airport. We got in at about 3:30am and to the apartment by around 5am. A bed never felt so good after two nights of sleeping on airplanes! The last couple days in Kampala have seemed much longer, and we already feel like we've been here for a week. We are very excited for our coming adventures as our research projects get going.

Yew-gone-duh? (Uganda)

Yes, Uganda. It's a country in the middle of Africa sandwiched between the DRC, Sudan, Kenya and Lake Victoria, and we're gonna be there in 5 days!! Since we'll be gone for two and a half months we decided to dedicate this blog to the comings and goings and especially the whatnot that may go on over there.

So what is it exactly that we're doing over there???  That's probably the number one question we've had as of late haha. So, this is a BYU program with the Political Science department that Tyler decided to apply for since his emphasis in International Relations is in Africa (They graciously let Jordyn go along with him). It is a mentored research study abroad so there will be two professors and about 20 students. There are 4-5 different groups of 2-3 individuals that are carrying out political science experiments. Tyler is in the micro-savings group and also the menstrual hygiene group which Jordyn ingeniously created we might add! Simply put, we will conduct randomized experiments and recruit test subjects to see if we can find some kind of correlation that is related to development. For example, in the micro-savings group we are trying to find out what pushes Ugandans to save money in banks since right now they are very distrustful of the banks and only about 10% of the people do it. Our hypothesis is that an up-front incentive will be the best incentive to save. There will be treatment and control groups and we will run statistical analyses afterwards to see if there is a correlation. For Jordyn's group (the menstrual hygiene group) we are trying to keep Ugandan girls in school. When girls start having their periods they also start missing school because a lack of health supplies and lack of health education so our hypothesis is that an increase in menstrual supplies and education will lead to girls staying in school. Keeping them in school is important because women empowerment helps develop countries and right now most Ugandan girls become pregnant and/or are married in their mid to late teens! 

So, there it is. Cut and dry. Hopefully it made a little sense. We are both getting more and more excited about development because it is directly linked to helping people lead better lives. On the side, through a miraculous encounter at the Hospital, Jordyn ran into a nurse that set us up with contacts in two orphanages in Kampala (the capital city) and we have rounded up quite a bit of medical and school supplies to take over on a humanitarian mission effort. We are very excited about that! We greatly appreciate all of you who donated!! 

Anyway, that is the scoop. I'm (Tyler) still new at this blogging stuff so hopefully it will get better in time. Stay tuned, more to come!

BYU Hunger Banquet

Tyler and I volunteered at BYU's Hunger Banquet. Attendees all bought tickets for the same price, but there was no guarantee that they would get their money's worth. The majority of the people represented the lower class and got beans and rice, one bowl for every two people. The next portion represented the middle class and received hotdogs, chips, and pop. The final and smallest group by far represented the upper class, and they got a 3-course meal and waiters. All servers were volunteers, and those serving the lower and middle class could dress in "ethnic" clothes, while the upper-class waiters wore the traditional black/white.

There was a keynote speaker and 3 NGOs trying to get funding. Proceeds from the banquet went to fund a grant to at least one of the 3 groups. It was a great opportunity to hear about humanitarian projects and to be a part of that experience!

PS-Apparently taking pictures is a difficult concept. We only got one picture that wasn't blurry, out of 3 different people, and it didn't even show our whole selves! So this one will have to do...

Reception pics round 2!

And a few more :)

A few reception pics :)

Ok, so here are the first few of some of my favorite pictures from our wedding reception held at my Aunt Ginny's house in Idaho. Hope you like them! I'll post some more later because I don't think I can put more than 5 at a time...or I don't know how to use the contraption called the internet...one of the two!