One week down!

Hi all!

Monica again; I think I will be updating the blog from now on, just so you all know. I've also been reading the comments to Mal over the phone (aka Skype) so keep them coming! She enjoys hearing from everyone!

Well, Mal has survived her first work week in Kampala and at the Kibuye school! She is THRILLED that it is the weekend and that she'll have some time to get organized, relax, and do some exploring outside of the city!

This weekend she's doing a couple of things:

-going to a "mall" to pick up some of the items that she's still missing from her missing luggage (hopefully some food, as well as shampoo and conditioner, face wash, etc)
-Visiting some tombs... I didn't write down which tombs she said they were, but she said it's a pretty big deal and supposedly really cool...
-Going to see the Kika Dance Troupe! She is SO excited about this, as her group will get to watch a performance AND have a lesson in native Ugandan dance! She's been learning a couple of steps from her kids at school, but this will be great to be able to put them together!

On Friday, Mal had a great experience during her lunch break from the school. Instead of going out to lunch, she (and her partner at the school, Deepa) were picked up by two women from Vandy and brought to a place called the NACOA center, which a center for the National Coalition of Women with AIDs in Uganda. The center was set up with the financial support of Vanderbilt University, so Mal and her friend were able to take a little tour of it. One part of what the NACOA center does is provide space for these women to make homemade jewelry, which they are then able to sell to support their families and pay for their medical costs. The group from Vandy that goes to Kampala every year also picks out and buys A LOT of jewelry and then sells it on campus throughout the year at various festivals and such. Well, today Mal and her friend got to be there when the two women from Vanderbilt presented the NACOA women with the money they raised for them thoughout the year by selling of the jewelry at Vanderbilt... It was only about $500, but that's the equivalent to 1 million Ugandan Shillings. Mal said that the women were crying and singing and raising their hands in praise for this donation, and it was so beautiful for them to be a part of it. One million shillings can go FAR in Uganda, as Mal said her 1/2 hour taxi ride each day costs 700, which is the equivalent of about 30 U.S. cents. CRAZY.

Something else Mal wanted me to tell you is that she peed in an African toilet yesterday. That means it was a hole in the ground. She was traumatized but also proud of herself for doing it.

A couple of funny stories from her school:

-Mal has a favorite student named Arafat, who is actually an orphan who lives at the school. Because of this, he's really smart because he listens in on all of the other classes. Well, Arafat likes to talk to Mallory about America (he's 12)... yesterday, he said "Mallory... do you know Obama is like the son of Martin Luther King, Jr.?" and Mal said "Really, why is that?" and Arafat said, "Well, Martin Luther King said that he had a dream... that one day there would be a president from Africa!" and then Mal said "Um, well, kind of..." haha!

-Another day, Mal was showing the kids some of her U.S. coins, and she had out a penny, a nickel, and a dime. Apparently all of the kids were intrigued, but Arafat was the most intrigued... he pointed to a penny and said "who's that on there...? ...Bill Clinton?" HAHA

-All of the kids also have a funny obsession with Arnold Schwartzenagger and Michael Jackson... one of the kids told Mal "Miss Mallory, if I go to America, I'm going to meet Michael Jackson... I'm going to ask someone where I can go to meet him and shake his hand." Mal said none of them seemed to have ANY idea that he's not black anymore. Haha!

One final note... on her way to the NACOA center today, Mal was able to get outside of the city of Kampala for the first time. She said it was obvious that the kids in the villages that she traveled through had never seen a white person before in their lives. First they stared, then they started to follow her wherever she went. As they were leaving to go back into Kampala, one of the little kids waved goodbye and said to Mallory, "bye bye muzungu!" "Muzungu" is the word for "white person" in a lot of different African languages. Because Mal's partner Deepa is Indian-American, Mal gets a lot of the stares on her own. Funny.

Please keep praying for Mal as she goes into her second week. She's adjusting to the food, the weather, and the sleeping arrangements, but finds the experience of getting to school (the taxi park... I'll explain later) to be intimidating and scary. She certainly appreciates your prayers! Thanks!