Life in a Year

Around this time last year I was in a cruddy place in my service. It lasted for a few months but I know what I went through made me grow more as an individual. This occurred because of many factors in my life at the time. I’m not one for deadlines and when people tell me to do something that I don’t feel in the mood to do (like write a blog post) then I get unmotivated and don’t do it. I appreciate that nobody has been hounding me about getting another post out. These things take time to type out, a computer to type them on, and thought to help me compile everything. I had the time but my computer was broken again due to an unfortunate day of transport and most of the time I was trying to stop myself from thinking too much. Living in the village can be challenging.

Thinking back to a year ago has shown me how much I can grow as a person. I have been through a lot of bad but also a whole lot of good. You can never have one without the other.

So because you all have waited so patiently I will try to catch you up on what I can to this date. I enjoy bullet points… especially when I know I will be falling asleep in about 20 minutes…

March 2013

•  Traveled north to meet some friends and experience the ‘heat’

April - May 2013

•   Worked two youth camps back to back as the Recreation and Activities Coordinator or what I like to call Master of Games. I surprised myself by creating two 18 person obstacle course with just 3 hours to plan, collect whatever I could get my hands on, and put together two courses together. (chairs, benches, plastic basins, cups, balls, rope)
•  Got an iPhone (game changer)
• Somehow managed to loose my cat (sad times)
• Helped install a water pump and manually dig a bore hole for the school

June – Sept 2013

•  Planned and directed National Camp GLOW with two other fantastic women. The camp focuses on empowering young girls ages 12-16 how to be leaders in their communities. For this camp I compiled a 70pg manual complete with the weekly schedule and daily lesson plans. I remember not being able to sleep for 4 days straight before the camp and running around the dirty taxi park in Kampala every day to collect supplies. The hard work definitely paid off. SUCCESS.
•  Went to Sipi Falls for a little R&R. During the hike through the villages to visit the 3 falls I came across my fuzz ball of a puppy and started a whole new secondary project which I like to call ‘raising a dog in the village.’

October 2013

•  Went back to Sipi Falls for Halloween and made my costume from scratch out of local materials. That night we partied in the cave of one of the old kingdom kings.
• Started teaching life skills to a local community youth group. (hygiene, income generation, savings)
• Realized that business is not my calling.

November 2013

Reading time

•  Climbed Mt. Sabinyo where the summit is shared between Uganda, Rwanda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The hike is only 7km with a 3,650m (12,000ft) elevation gain.
• Spent a few hours swimming at a remote lake then feasted on some amazingly prepared food complete with a Congolese turkey for Thanksgiving.
•   Created games and activities daily for Camp Suubi, a camp for kids with severe to moderate disabilities both physical and mental. This was one of the most challenging things I have done up to that point because the range of the camper abilities was so extreme that I needed to make sure all of them could participate. The best activities I ended up setting up were carnival games one day (javelin throw, fishing, bowling, bean bag toss) and Olympic events for the last day. What an AMAZING week!

Dec 2013

•  Following camp I flew to Florida to spend a week with my grandmother then my brother Mike arrived and took me skydiving (for the second time) and swimming with manatees!
•  Flew up to Michigan to surprise my parents early and spend Christmas with family and friends.
• 
  

Jan - Feb 2014

•  Spend New Year’s Eve with friends at Dave and Busters.
•  Experienced the power of the Polar Vortex in the Midwest and almost missed my flight out of Chicago due to the closing of highways and delay of two trains I was supposed to be on. Almost caught frost bite on my toes while waiting in the sub zero train station. 
•  Flew back to Uganda and tried starting my playground grant of $10,000.
•    The school I live at changed from a Primary school to a Primary Teachers’ College and the directors were unsure they wanted the playground.

March 2014

•   After nearly 3 months of depression and boredom the directors ask me where there playground was… WTF?!?! They told me they didn't want it!
•    Rented a bulldozer so I could create enough flat space for a field

Murchison Falls

Warthog. Oink. Oink. Oink!

April 2014

• Attended my Close of Service (COS) conference at a super swanky hotel paid for by PC. This place had air-conditioned rooms, 2 pools, golf carts, and horseback riding… through the streets of a Kampala suburb.
•  Ventured to Murchison Falls ( the most visited National Park in Africa back in the 60’s, I think)
•   Picked up Mike (my brother) in Rwanda where we explored Kigali, the genocide memorials, and Lake Kivu which is one of the worlds’ 3 exploding lakes.
•  Hopped over the boarder back to Uganda where we went gorilla trekking, climbed Mt. Sabinyo (again for me), visited Sipi (my dog), and relaxed on Lake Binyoni (the Switzerland of Uganda).
•   Once my brother left I went back to Lake Binyoni to spend Easter with a large group of fellow volunteers.

Camp Limitless

May 2014

•   Planned for Sipi’s escape back to America. He will be flown back by a friend in September and has a place to stay until I return after my travels and shenanigans abroad. I feel very fortunate to have those people involved with his escape in my life or else who knows what would happen to him.
• Helped with local youth camp, Camp Limitless!
•  Designed and ordered playground equipment

Preparing for India!

The bottom line is I have LIVED over the past year. This brings us back to the real world and current life. I have been away from site for two weeks working on my playground and looking for future employment opportunities. It is official! I am leaving Uganda towards the end of July. My flights are booked for my adventure afterwards and I am trying to figure out my next step in life following my Peace Corps service. The past few weeks I have been applying and working hard to get an English teaching job abroad in Asia… but who knows where I will end up and what I will be doing.

That’s all I have for now. If you would like more specific stories regarding any of the events above please send me a request and I’m almost certain I can provide you with a story, possible pictures, and more details about it.

Sipi