Namayumba!

Extreme College is almost completely built! I spent Thursday and Friday in Namayumba with Melissa and the secondary school students, working on getting the school up and running. And yes, I did manual labor. That's right, these scrawny arms mixed cement/sand/water and then spread and pounded it to make the floor of the first classroom. I have two blisters to show for it. The secondary school students really amaze me. They work tirelessly, from sun-up until past sundown. I've never seen such work ethic, and drive in a group of students. They have worked so hard to build their school, and their desire to be there and learn is so evident. I feel as though it's a privilege to be able to work side by side with them. Of course, the girls laugh at me when I try to wash clothes with them, and have to correct my methods at least five times per load. And the boys make no hesitation is pointing out my errors when I try to level the cement or shovel up bricks. But it's all in good humor, and I love it.

I've gotten to know a few of the kids at Extreme. Chamime is a riot, she loves American rap and wears a baseball hat like Lil' Wayne. Nabimanya is hilarious, but also one of the hardest workers I've seen. He's one of the boys who have warmed up to me, and I love joking around with him. Brassio and Sam are also great. Like Nabimanya, they work tirelessly all day, no one needs to tell them what to do, or to remind them to do work, they simply just do. It's really admirable. Sam, Nabimanya, and Dan, another boy I've started to get to know, accompanied Melissa and I into town Thursday night and came back to watch a movie in our room with us. It was a pretty gruesome movie, and in typical boy fashion, they laughed at every scene involving blood and a machete.

On Friday, as Melissa and I were getting ready to head back to Kampala, Sam came to Melissa and told her he was feeling really sick. We worried that it might be Malaria, which he seams come down with quite often, so we took him back to Nansana with us so that he could spend the night there and go to the hospital in the morning. After we got him to the room where he would sleep, I went to put my hand on his back, and realized that he had a raging fever. Even through his sweatshirt, his skin was hotter than anyone's I'd ever felt, and we realized that he was seriously ill. Melissa and Nabimanya took Sam to the hospital the following day where he was hooked up to an IV, tested for Malaria, and given a cocktail of pills. When I spoke with Melissa on Sunday, she said he was doing a little better and that they would be taking him back to Namayumba later that day.

What makes me so sad, is that when I think about myself or one of my friends back home getting sick, I know that we will always have a network of people, be it our parents, friends, or relatives, looking after us until we are well again. These kids don't have that. Most of them won't tell anyone when they're sick because they know that nothing will be done. They don't have the money or the resources to get the children medicine. This is another reason I'm so determined to help raise money for Seggawa and the children. $4.00 is all it takes to buy Malaria medicine for two kids. The U.S dollar goes so far here, and even sending something as harmless to our pockets as $20 would go a huge distance for them.

Anyhow, Eric Courtney, the kids and I spent the weekend in Jinja, which was lovely. I got to see the Nile River, and the source of it, which lies in Uganda. After spending the weekend away, I came back to Nansana and taught English to the P6 students yesterday (Monday). The P6 students were very enjoyable to teach, they listened very well, and did their work without getting too distracted.

After teaching in the morning, I met up with Melissa and her mother who’s visiting, and we went into town to meet with the people from Straight Talk. Straight Talk is an organization that goes around to schools and talks to them about HIV awareness, HIV Prevention, and sexual education. After meeting with them and getting to know some of the kids who travel to the schools to speak with the kids, we were able to arrange for two of the men at the organization, David and Saul, to come speak to the kids in Namayumba next Thursday and Friday. I’m so glad they’re coming because the kids haven’t really had anyone to talk to about any of those things. Many haven’t been tested, and for all we know there could be a few at the school who are too scared to tell anyone that they are HIV positive. It will be good for the kids to learn that they have a support network, and that there are people eager to help and talk them through any difficulties they may be having.

Melissa and I invited David and Saul to come watch the World Cup final at Lido Beach with us on Sunday, which should be really fun. It will be nice to meet some University kids like us, so that next time we’re here, we’ll have some more people our age to hang out with.