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.
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