Over the Swamp and Through the Bush to Obama’s House We Go!

So sorry to keep you waiting for a new post! The last few weeks have been busy! Well sorta being busy not being busy if that makes sense… let me explain. I’ve been working in a mailroom for the last 2 weeks and it is has just been the most fun ever! Please feel free to acknowledge my overly enthusiastic sarcasm! But it hasn’t actually been that bad and let me tell you why…

Reason # 1 – Everyone is nice to you because you have something they want! No one wants to piss off the girl that is in possession of their Amazon orders and packages from home

Reason #2 – Not only are people nice to me, I’m getting paid! to do what? hand out  packages and get signatures… and plan all my new exciting adventures coming up!

I can hardly believe it but we raised over $800 for shoes! I have arranged with Sam from Kids Club to go shopping sometime next week after my temp job here is done. We have the teachers at the education center taking assesments so we know what sizes to get! Thank you also for all of the support for the school supplies! I cannot wait to go and set up the new classroom! The kids will be so excited to show up and see all of their new things! If you still want to help out send me a private message and I will give you more information!

Patrick and I had a great weekend, Friday afternoon he came to Kids Club with me to meet all the kids and afterwards we went out with Olivia and her FIANCE, Huw! How exciting! they just got engaged the day before at the Ewafe Home which is such a special place for them! Congrats Olivia and Huw! So happy for you! I’ve already invited myself to the wedding and have started  shopping for my fascinator or hat! Reminds me of this one time my Mom and I went shopping around Easter one year…

What do you think Olivia?? Does this work?? haha maybe I wont ask my Mom for fashion advice on this one 🙂

Back to all the trips I have coming up! The first one already happened but I didnt get a chance to blog about it beforehand. We took a trip to the Ziwa Rhino Sanctuary! Amazing place!  You are all probably wondering about the title of this blog and how it has anything to do with Obama’s House? Believe it or not we did take a trip to Obama’s house! But this house was a little bit bigger than the White House in DC and is home to 15 White Rhinos, one of them of which happens to be named Obama 🙂 With a mother from the U.S.A and a father from Kenya the name is quite fitting. Uganda currently does not have any rhinos in the wild anymore and the last one was seen in 1983. The purpose of the Sanctuary is to breed the rhinos and put them back in our country. Anyone who has interest in rhinos it is definitely worth checking out! We were taken out by a guide to see some of them and were lucky to see 5! Our ranger Edward said this was somewhat of a miracle and we were very blessed! Patrick took some really great pictures!

We spent the night there and had a nice local dinner of roast chicken with about 12 servings of mashed potatoes! It was delicious 🙂 Accomodations were really awesome considering we only paid $10/person for them except for the minor detail of the electricity not working. Now it went off after my trip to the bathroom when  I was safely in my bed but Patrick also booked us for an early morning canoe ride and by early I mean before the sun… we forgot our flash lights and both of our cell phones were near dead from the lack of an electric outlet in our room… Anyone who has known me long enough knows if something requires me to wake up before the sun I’m not always the most pleasant person to deal with. Now add in the factor that we have no electricity… and no sunshine. You know when you see someone that is just dressed awful and you use the phrase “Wow he/she must have gotten ready in the dark this morning” I like to think this is the first time I’ve ever been the subject of this question and not the one asking it… You will note there were no pictures taken of me on this adventure (from the front)  and if there were Patrick was smart enough not to show me! So I woke up at 5:15AM…. I had to get ready in the dark… and I was then handed a pair of rubber boots (that were about a size too small) and for what?? to go look at birds! I dont even really like birds especially not enough to go through all of this and it doesnt even end there…. they didnt just hand me a pair of rubber boots for the heck of it… in order to see this special bird we had to walk through the swamp… often times with that surprise  “dip” where your leg went just a little bit deeper than the top of your boot 😦

But we got to see the famous rare shoebill….cool.

 Then on to our canoe ride to see more birds! I will say that this canoe was much more stable than our Jinja Source of the Nile canoe and had less water inside the boat… but what else would you expect from a boat named “God is Abal”… I wondered for a moment (keep in mind it is still early and I only had one small cup of instant coffee in my system) who/what is Abal? is this a weird Lugandan word I am unaware of? Is it short for abalone, a common name for any of a group of small to very large edible sea snails? nope, just your typical African – English spelling error just like the pharmacy down the street is Eric’s Pharmacy but also on the same building is painted Erik’s Pharmacy and Erikk’s Pharmacy?? Sometimes we have to cover all our bases I suppose or just go with what feels right the first time around… or other times we just dont have enough paint to fix it! Either way, it makes me giggle 🙂 The boat ride was so.. lets say “peaceful” that I may or may not have dosed off for a bit, but thankfully we managed to see more birds!!!!!! 

 Lots of other exciting things are in the works as well. Other than the trips I was offered an official job here! Yay for a job that makes real money! But the awesome thing is I will still be able to volunteer with Kids Club Kampala at least 1 or 2 days per week.

Next up is Chimp Trekking in Murchinsin Falls this weekend with one of Patrick’s colleagues and Olivia and Huw are making the trip with us as well. After that I am heading to my favorite place in the world The Beautiful Kingdom of Swaziland for 2 1/2 weeks and hopefully a detour in Botswana!! then meeting Patrick in Rwanda for a weekend and in October we are headed to Malawi! The Traveling Scarf is about to see 3 more new countries 🙂

Thank you to everyone for your kind words the last couple of weeks and prayers for my friend.

Thanks for stopping by!

5 Little Monkeys Jumping on the Bed!

Good Morning Everyone! I have a lot to talk about today so I suggest you go grab your cup of coffee and get comfortable!

For all my new and first time readers I suggest you start by reading “The Scarf that Saw the World” by clicking the link below to get a full understanding of the characters and basis of this blog.

The Scarf that Saw the World.

Saturday mornings are sacred to me, I don’t set an alarm and I sleep as long as I like and then after waking up I get some extra love and cuddle time with the tiniest diplomat. Now, our housekeeper Gladys has been telling me that she has seen a bunch of monkeys in our yard recently while she has been working. Now, Patrick and I have seen monkeys at our house once before when we first arrived and have seen none sense. I thought maybe the cleaning chemicals were getting to Gladys’s head… then one of my friends spent the night at our house one evening and she said she swore she heard monkeys too… So when Patrick came into the bedroom this morning (remember I just mentioned my Saturday mornings are sacred!)  and told me there were monkeys all over the yard I had a conflicting thought “Monkeys or sleep??” (not normally the first decision I make of the day) At first I chose sleep (honestly, it’s my second go at living in Africa and I have seen my fair share of monkeys) but here comes Patrick again about 5 minutes later saying “Amanda! You have to come see this! I promise I will let you go right back to sleep!” So to humor my husband and his childlike excitement I went to go take a look at all the “African Squirrels”

Alright… so I guess that is pretty cool… I mean not everyone has monkeys in their yard at least not probably the majority of my captive audience right now….

Anyway… I went back to bed for some more snuggle time and wished Patrick good luck as he left the house to go play paintball…. with U.S. Marines…. If I was Catholic I might have sent him off with a few Hail Marys because I have seen the Marines here and I don’t think I would want to play games with any of them… yet alone a game that involves combat and guns… See you later husband… I hope!

Well Saturday morning sleep  was officially ruined so I figured I would get my lazy butt out of bed and take Gumbo outside to play for a bit. Now if I can refresh your memories to a couple days ago when I wrote about my experience at Yellowstone park (I know it was ages ago but please try and recall! :)) the scenario where Josh and I came face to face with a wild buffalo and how instead of running like normal people we stood and watched… I think Gumbo might take after his human mama because……

“Mom! what are those things???”

“Hold on, let me get a better look…..”

There was a part of me that wanted to let him get closer… but the other more sensible part of me saw the monkeys planning their attack and I imagined how awkward that phone call to Patrick would be… “Um hey honey…. oh yea yea things are great here… do you remember if they mentioned anything in orientation about what to do if your dog gets attacked by a group of monkeys??…. oh, they didn’t cover that? well ok then! Talk to you later!”

Earlier this week I went with Olivia and Corrie (the UK directors of Kids Club Kampala) Corrie’s husband Jonny and my gardener Issac to Kids Club’s Ewafe House Project to paint. Ewafe means “Where We Belong” in Luganda. Sadly, every year hundreds of children are abandoned in Kampala’s slums (including the one I have been teaching in on a daily basis) For everyone at home it must be hard to imagine someone just abandoning their child but it happens more often then you would think in third world countries.

The Ewafe project was launched in June 2013 and building began in September. Kid’s Club Kampala created the Ewafe House to provide a safe emergency shelter to those children who have been abandoned whilst either reuniting children with their families or finding permanent foster families for them. There are many projects that provide shelters to abandoned babies and toddlers but there is a lack for homes for older abandoned children. The Ewafe House is approaching it’s final building stages and is almost ready to house the children. Our team on Wednesday began painting the washrooms in the Ewafe House and we had a great time doing it!

We do have a Canadian team coming in next week to help paint the exterior of the building but the Ewafe Home still needs a little bit of work. Eventually we would like to provide running water and electricity but our immediate need In order to open the house to the children is funding for beds. If you are interested in learning more about the Ewafe home and ways you can help you can visit the Kids Club Kampala website for more information.

On Friday, I spent my last day teaching (for 3 weeks while I work a temporary job at the embassy) in the Katanga Slum. Over the last month, I have watched these children learn and laugh and play and I look forward to my daily dose of love I receive.

We have had fun learning bible stories, how to take care of our bodies, how to write and add our numbers and yesterday I wrote the following up on the blackboard….

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

When I looked at all my future doctors, nurses, ambulance drivers, professional football players, business women, teachers, pilots and my one cheeky little princess I was proud yet at the same time my heart was filled with so much sadness.

I am not a real teacher… I have no proper training and the sad reality is that without a proper education my doctors will probably at best, end up being street cleaners, my princesses and business women will most likely be early young brides and my football players will end up washing cars. How do you cope with that?? I suppose when I figure it out I will let you know.

I want to give my kids the world but right now I would be happy just to give them their own set of school supplies and a pair of shoes. This is why I would like to start the $5 challenge. $5 in Uganda would pay for approximately 5-7 pairs of flip flops. I normally have anywhere from 50-100 children show up daily for the education project and a hot meal.  If only 20 people gave $5 that would mean a pair of new shoes for each one! I have created a fundraising site if you wish to participate.

Happy Feet Challenge

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to hang out with me today!

Love and Well Wishes from Uganda!

Sincerely,

Amanda, Patrick, Gumbo and Black Kitten

Leave No (Yellow)stone Left Unturned

Have you ever met someone you really liked and instantly knew you wanted to be their friend? This happens to me all the time but this time I met someone who was just as crazy as I am and reciprocated my eagerness to become immediate BFFs.

Her name is Sophie Demartine and today is her birthday! Happy Birthday Sophie! in honor of Sophie’s special day I am going to tell you the story of the time Sophie and I visited Yellowstone National Park last month!

Sophie and I met last year when I first moved to DC and she was the ultimate tour guide! We only had 4 months together but we had so many fun adventures from our season passes to Six Flags (which if anyone has ever been to the one in Maryland you know there is a better chance of me seeing white people in a remote Ugandan village than at that park! lol) But we rocked those Six Flag VIP gold passes with the upmost pride! to weekly happy hours at DC Reynolds and she was even there to help me pick out Gumbo! You can only imagine my disappointment when I found out my new friend was leaving me to go work for Americorps in Billings, Montana! Who moves to Billings???

So I must plead guilty to something…. Although I am pretty well traveled internationally for my age (and my income prior to marriage) there are so many places I haven’t explored in my own country. Let’s be real… unless I was going  somewhere really “exotic” like Alaska or Hawaii no one would probably care much (and yea I’m human, I like a little attention and need to feel important sometimes) BUT my viewpoint has completely changed after visiting Yellowstone! I even texted Patrick before I got home and insisted we use our home leave when we get back to travel more in America!

Upon arriving in Billings,  I was concerned about giving Sophie enough time to pick me up because I had checked a bag and thought it would take ages like it normally tends to in other airports…. Welcome to Billings Logan International Airport where the baggage claim belts have horses on them….

 I found Billings to be quite nice! a little chilly, but nice nonetheless. The people are very friendly and there are a ton of local breweries and fun restaurants.

So we spent a couple days in Billings and then a big group of us hopped into 5 different vehicles and made our way to Yellowstone National Park. I was in what I called the “Fun Vehicle” with Sophie and my new friend Josh because I am convinced that we had the most fun! I think these next few pictures prove my point….

Honestly, Yellowstone was probably the coolest place I’ve ever visited in America. Everywhere you look there is an amazing sight to be seen!

And then there is the wildlife… We even had a pretty close encounter with a Bison. It went a little like this…

(Open Scene) Sophie, Josh, and a couple others and myself found a nice quiet spot near our campsite to relax for a bit.

“Bison!”

“yea Josh we’re making Bison burgers for dinner we know…”

“No, BISON!!!”

All of us turn around to find a Buffalo about a stones throw or less away just staring at us… Naturally the majority of our group ran back to camp while Josh and I stood and watched not really anticipating the danger of the situation because, well, It was just REALLY COOL!!

We were also given strict campsite regulations to avoid bears… Apparently there was one there the night before and if we left one crumb out it was going to come and eat us all! So we had to hide our picnic basket from Yogi and Boo Boo 😦

The highlight of our trip was visiting Old Faithful! I’ve seen pictures and heard stories but nothing compares to the actual sight of it!

On our way back to Billings we stopped at a restaurant to have lunch and enjoy some delicious bison burgers when…..

Oh hey there, don’t mind us… just crossing the street…

All in all it was a wonderful weekend and I was so happy to be able to spend time with my friend before I left and to enjoy 2 new  American states! Love and miss you Sophie!!!

Humphrey the Dromedary and a Real Live Little Donkey!

So you have now all heard the story of Frank, the crab hunting dog and my Mozambican engagement, my jazzy Great Gatsby inspired wedding and now I am going to tell you the story of Humphrey the Dromedary and a real live little donkey!! This should be of particular interest to all of our wedding guests who contributed to our honeymoon fund!!

So, where does the couple who just found out they were moving to Africa go on their honeymoon? Naturally, they would go to Africa because that makes a whole lot of sense right? Now what doesn’t make sense is how  in order to get to Morocco from Uganda it would have taken us 30 hours each way and cost over $1000 each. But from DC it was a 15 hour journey…. And cost much less… I’m sure from my previous posts it’s become apparent not much makes sense on this continent…

We were picked up from the airport in Casablanca and made the 2 hour car ride to Marrakech, where we would spend the majority of our stay. Now mind you, prior to my honeymoon, my African travel experiences consisted of bunk beds in crowded hostel rooms and the hope of hot water and a toilet I didn’t have to “hover” over. You can imagine my delight when we showed up to our room at Riad Adore and saw this….

I told Patrick… “Don’t tell the staff but I think they gave us the wrong room… We better drink this bottle of wine before they figure it out!!” Thank goodness they didn’t catch us 🙂

We spent our first evening in Marrakech enjoying iced coffees on top of a rooftop cafe!

 After dinner we enjoyed our complimentary bottle of wine on the rooftop of our riad where we could overlook the ancient city at night.

Morocco gave new meaning to “It’s Africa Hot here!” Our first few days were 100+ degrees.

We spent our first full day in Marrakech exploring the city with our first stop being the Koutoubia Mosque, the biggest Mosque in Marrakech.

We wanted our second stop to be one of the Palaces, but we quickly learned that every Moroccan’s goal is to lie to you! I’m not even joking… first we were told we were going the “wrong way” and the next person told us the Palace was closed today (we later learned that was not the case at all) And why were they lying to you??? because they wanted you to go here instead….

Now this is where I wish you could post scratch n’ sniff pictures over the internet… This is a Berber Tannery and no you are not imagining the dead animal skins in the background.. they are just as real as the mint leaves they handed us before we walked into this (I don’t even know what to call this situation) to hold under our noses to cover the awful smell.

Two minutes later we find ourselves in a room with only one visible exit and no other tourists in sight with an eager Moroccan telling us we should feel honored to be a part of the special demonstration of all of his handmade carpets he is about to give us! Woohoo! aren’t we the lucky chosen ones??? (This is it… they are going to rob us of all of our belongings, and maybe just maybe spare our lives!) Ok, Ok… so maybe I am over dramatizing a tad but it was a more than slightly uncomfortable experience! We managed to escape but only after overpaying for a berber carpet (that we had no need for) and a pair of leather sandals I have yet to wear! Sorry Patrick, I’m just looking for the right time to break them in 🙂 Good news is we lived to tell the tale!

A trip to Marrakech would not be complete without a visit to The Jemaa el Fna  Square.  Often referred to as the World’s oldest and most exciting town square! Its definitely one of the most interesting places I have ever visited in my life! During the day and early morning it is filled with orange juice stands, snake charmers, men with monkeys and I personally got to know the relentless henna women who do not understand the word NO! By night time the vendors are joined by dancers and acrobats and hundreds of food stalls. On the ground level of things it can be a bit overwhelming but I enjoyed sitting on the rooftop of a restaurant watching everyone else get scammed into monkey pictures and henna 🙂 

I will say Patrick knowing French was very useful! I would have been so lost without him there! The next day we were going to be leaving to travel to the Sahara Desert and I was convinced that I needed a hat so I had Patrick help me pick the perfect one!

Option 1

option 2 (I swear they were different!)

Here let me see it on you!

The next morning we were on our way to the desert! Now anyone who has known me for awhile knows that ever since I was little I am prone to car sickness…. Now combine that with my fear of heights and you have my worst nightmare….

Guardrails? what are those??

The ride there was astonishing and our driver was so amazing at letting us stop to take pictures on the way!

We even got to see where the movie Gladiator was filmed!

And we visited an ancient Kasbah or what we would simply refer to as a castle 🙂

We retired for the night at another beautiful riad in the Atlas Mountains.

The next morning we hopped back into the car and began our final descent into the desert through the famous Draa Valley that is filled with endless stretches of palm trees!

And then we stopped for a rest and some lunch at a hotel where we met the cutest little…..

KITTENS!!!

Fun Desert Fact #1: The hotel staff says they do not mind having the cats around because they eat the scorpions! Ouch!

Fun Desert Fact #2: As one of the world’s largest deserts, the Sahara receives less than three inches (7.6 cm) of rain a year.

Referring to fun desert fact #2 you must realize our surprise when we were welcomed to camp by a terrential downpour…

This is the view through the opening of our luxury desert tent!

After the storm stopped, we were invited to share a bottle of champagne while watching the sun set over the dunes…

Patrick’s most famous quote that I will never let him live down upon arrival to the desert… “I wasn’t anticipating this much sand!”

We were also provided with a sand board but I was the only Scoville brave enough to try!

The next morning we encountered a different type of storm… In my opinion the worst kind… a sand storm so fierce you could barely see 10 feet in front of you.

All I had been talking about for months before was how I was going to get to ride a camel in the desert and name him Humphrey!

Fun Desert Fact #3 Camels have two humps, whereas Dromedaries have only one.

So it was a Dromedary I would ride and not a camel but I was ok with this technicality however, I was not ok that the most exciting opportunity of my life was going to have to take action in the middle of a sand storm. It cleared up a small bit but in order for us to avoid the stinging sensation of sand blowing in your face  we were offered turbans… but not just any turbans, HOT PINK turbans…. for both of us haha. It was a nice look for Patrick, what do you think?

Oh you know just riding through the Saharan Desert on our Dromedaries wearing hot pink turbans… no big deal.

Mine had a little crush on Patrick I think… Silly Humphrey!

uh oh! guess what day it is? What day is it? C’mon Patrick I know you can hear me!

After our ride, I stumbled upon this little dude who kept following me….

The Second night in the desert we spent at the private camp where we met 2 other wonderful couples.

The next morning we awoke to a wonderful surprise! Since our dromedary ride the day before wasn’t as enjoyable with the sand storm they brought them back for us!

YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!

BEST.DAY.EVER!!!!!

On the ride home we got to see a few more fun sights….

With one more day in Marrakech we did a little more sight seeing…

And then had one nice farewell dinner and said goodbye to Morocco 😦 All in all it was a wonderful trip filled with memorable moments. What a great way to start off our marriage!

Thank you everyone who contributed to our amazing honeymoon!! We love and miss you all!

Slap Happy Birthday!

This is the story of how Patrick became an old man and our slap happy new kitten.

So we’ve had “black kitten” for about a week now. Gumbo has tried very hard to be friendly despite the incredibly creepy sounds the cat made anytime Gumbo got near him. This week, there was a drastic change in events as now the cat likes to get really close to Gumbo… and when I say close I mean nose to nose. When I first witnessed this I thought “Oh! how cute! they’re friends now!” no sooner could I finish my thought, black kitten slaps gumbo right across the face!!

It looked a little something like this….

Poor Gumbo!

Yesterday, Patrick got to celebrate his 30th birthday!! We started the day out by visiting Ssezibwa Falls (try saying that one 5 times fast… or at all!) I had mentioned it the day before to the ladies at our afternoon high tea (That’s right I go to teas now!) and no one had ever even heard of it! I thought maybe Patrick had made the whole place up but since it was his birthday I hopped in the car and complied to his wishes, because thats what good diplomat wives do.

What a hidden gem this was!!! It was so serene and peaceful! Maybe Patrick has just become wiser in his old age because this was a good find! Well done husband!

Last year I planned Patrick’s birthday and rented a party bus and went on a DC brewery tour. Unfortunately, Uganda isn’t famous or known for their brewery tours so I had to make plan B! We have really enjoyed going to a local restaurant called Jakob’s Lounge so I arranged for us to have a small get together there. It was my friend Olivia’s birthday on Friday so we had a joint party! It turned out to be a lot of fun and Jakob loved having us there!

This was Patrick last year on his birthday….

This was Patrick this year on his birthday….

I am thinking he must have been a little homesick because even though we didn’t get to go a brewery tour he still managed to wear the same shirt… 🙂

Our other Birthday Guest of Honor, Olivia!

Olivia’s Kids Club Kampala partner Corrie here for a few weeks from Scotland!

Happy Birthday Hubby! I hope you had fun!!!!

Straight from the Source (of the Nile)

So I really wanted to write 2 posts but the topics are not really relatable… but as I sit here at home (or more so curled up in the fetal position due to unfortunate food poisoning) why not throw in one more challenge and make the 2 things go together… throwing in is better than throwing up in this scenario… too much? sorry!

I am always amazed at how innovative and resourceful people are when they have almost nothing. This is what a jerry jug looks like to an ordinary person….

But through the eyes of a small child that has nothing it looks a little more like this…. It’s no longer just an ordinary jug… cut the top off and add a string you now have a wagon or a sled!

When I looked into my fridge the other day I saw “a trip to the grocery store” a.k.a one frozen chicken breast, a tiny bit of pasta sauce and what Patrick referred to as “scraps” of this and that… Now let me show you what Gladys, my housekeeper saw….

Homemade chicken Enchiladas! She proceeds to tell me “Madam Amanda, you did not have any wraps… so I was going to make my own but i saw you did not have a rolling pin… so I made pancakes (which here are like crepes) and wrapped them with those… ” What on earth???? I will tell you Gladys could almost give Little Donkey a run for their money!

With all this motivation Patrick and I decided to get out there and be innovative this 4th of July Weekend by leaving the city… without a map, ok fine we weren’t trying to be innovative at all and really just accidentally left the map at home (Trust me this will not happen again). I am assuming that Ugandans know how innovative and creative their people are because that is the only reason I can think of for not having street signs…. or rules… or speed limits because we all know EXACTLY what we are doing right??? right.. only logical explanation.

Anyway back to our adventure! We made our way out to Jinja, which if any of you guys at home decide to come out this way you will get to go! Maybe I just won’t post pictures so the curiosity will consume you so much you hop on a plane and see for yourself! Just kidding… I’ll show you 🙂

Patrick took me to a beautiful place called Wildwaters Lodge located just a bit outside of Jinja. We had a nice romantic lunch with an astonishing view….

After lunch one of the staff members took us on a short hike to show us the rest of the lodge….

Love birds like us! :-*

After lunch and our tour we headed into Jinja where we paid $20 for a ride in a small boat (that was partly filled with water and if you did not sit directly in the center of the small wooden plank used as a seat you would tip on over) to take us to a tiny little island which is supposedly home to the source of the Nile River. Mind you, I am not the best swimmer in the world so none of this to me was very reassuring….

But in the end… it was all worth it!

With all the chaos in the city it was so nice to get out and be reminded how much fun we have together and how much I enjoy his company. Sometimes it is good to leave the map at home and not know exactly where you are going… it’s who you go with that makes the trip.

Until next time….

Slumcat Millionaire

This is the story of how I somehow convinced Patrick that we should add a cat to the mix and how I finally managed to get out of the house after being cooped up for 2 weeks.

When Patrick and I first started dating he told me he was allergic to cats… it really turns out that he just doesn’t like them! Anyway… upon arriving in Kampala one of Patrick’s colleagues approached him and told him she had adopted a kitten that she will not be able to take back to the States with her in a few weeks. In some cultures, it is widely believed that if you meet a black cat along the road then that is a sign of bad luck. Because of this, sometimes black cats are mistreated. Bring on the sob story and thus the reason why this little guy is going to be joining our happy little gang.

I posted on Facebook for name suggestions which was very entertaining! Thank you everyone for your submissions! I told Patrick that I wanted to name him “Muzungu” which is the Ugandan word for “White Person”…. It’s funny right?? you know because he’s… well yea you get it haha.

So now for the second part of this story, how I managed to get out of the house.  As of Monday I finally started my volunteer position at Kids Club Kampala.  Although my story only started 3 days ago, the KCK story begin 7 years ago with 2 young girls from the UK named Olivia and Corrie and a passionate Ugandan man named Sam who had a dream and a vision to bring love and hope to the vulnerable and poor children in Kampala and that my friends  is exactly what they’ve done! What started out as something small in 2 communities with a few hundred children has now expanded to 17 different communities and the hundreds gradually turned into thousands. This expansion wasn’t due to them wanting to be the “Biggest and Best” for bragging rights but instead resulted from KCK working directly within the communities and with the people that live there and they have done it all within their means. Due to some of my past experience working with unorganized NGOs who lack the means to care for their communities but still can conveniently  charge volunteers ridiculous fees to work for free, I did quite a bit of research before arriving to find the right one.  On that note I can honestly say without a doubt that Kids Club Kampala is something I am proud to be apart of and look forward to my next 2 years here in Uganda.

For the last 3 days I have been traveling with Olivia to Katanga Slum, one of the largest slums in Kampala where KCK has made a huge impact on the community. Most African countries charge phenomenal fees for children to attend school. Over half of the Ugandan population lives on pennies a day and therefore parents cannot  afford to send their children to school to receive the education they not only deserve but would be entitled to if they lived in America and other Western Countries. The conditions that these families and children live in are shocking and probably too unbearable for most of you to stomach…

Katanga Slum

KCK has built a small education center in Katanga that offers children who cannot afford to go to school an opportunity to learn two hours a day, five days a week. They range in age from babies that sit on the laps of older children to about 11 years old. They often times show up shoeless, in the same torn clothes from the day before, sometimes barely clothed at all. There is no one that forces them to come they are all there because they choose to be there but the one thing they have in common is that they all have the desire and are eager to learn and that to me at least, is pretty amazing…

I have learnt how to live…how to be in the world and of the world, and not just to stand aside and watch.
-Audrey Hepburn

The Story of Frank the Crab Hunting Dog

I am going to backtrack a little bit today and tell you another one of my favorite stories. It involves the girl, the guy, not the dog but a dog, some good friends and of course the infamous scarf.

Very quickly for those of you who do not know me very well. In 2012 I lived in Swaziland for a half year, Swaziland?? where’s that???

It’s that tiny little yellow dot inside the big green one and right next to the big red one…

While I was living there, I met 2 young girls, Nomfundo and Sibonela.  For the last 2 years I have been sponsoring these 2 young ladies to go to school, which in Swaziland and most African countries is a privilege many children do not get to partake in due to expensive school fees and the need for children to work to provide income for their parents. Nomfundo and Sibo were living with their Grandma “Gogo” but now are staying with a caring young woman who they refer to as “Aunty” This is a picture of the first day we ever met….

Naturally, when Patrick and I started dating, I knew that Swaziland, and these girls were something I needed to share with him. So in December 2013 we embarked on a 10 day journey to Swaziland and Mozambique.

Here is a preview of our trip….

The trip also included a very important introduction….

We spent the last few days of our trip in Mozambique on a secluded little fisherman’s island with my good friends Kieren and Ben Vincent. During the day out on the beach we met a little dog… who I named Frank for no apparent reason other than I thought he looked like a Frank… Frank had a special skill, you see he could sniff a crab from a mile away and when he found one he would dig and dig and dig and when he got close to his prize he would even start barking! We watched Frank hunt crabs for the majority of our morning.

That night Patrick was acting super weird. He insisted we go talk a walk on the beach during sunset because we hadn’t had any “alone time”  Just as soon as I had finished my statement of “Too bad Frank isn’t here to witness this….” Frank comes running from out of nowhere! So the 3 of us walk, until the rough sand started hurting my feet so I sat down to put on my shoes. Patrick was doing something in the sand and when I made my way back to him I looked down to find this…..

No Sooner could I give my answer along comes Frank… Paw prints right through the proposal and head in the ground hunting for Crabs!!

So we all know what my answer was, sorry to ruin the fun! Well if you ask Patrick I apparently never gave him an actual answer, in fact I said nothing and just held out my hand (which in all fairness I would count as a definite yes)

Now, Lets talk about this rock… Anyone who has known me for a long period of time… ok lets face it any amount of time… I haven’t had the best reputation of not losing things… or remembering things etc… So when I was given a diamond that has been in the family for over 100 years I about had a heart attack. I somehow managed to wear that thing for 6 months without losing it or having it stolen. I think the real reason I wrote this blog was because I had to leave that ring at home and man oh man do I miss it….

Until we meet again….. Wait for me loved one… wait for me!!!!!!