The first few days in Kampala

I'm fine. Nobody in our group was anywhere near the bombs that went off last night. (If you haven't heard about it, click here for an NPR article.) We didn't hear anything last night, and first found out what had happened when we got phone calls around 4am to make sure that everyone was accounted for. Hugo and Simmons wanted to confirm that everyone was safe and okay. We had been planning to go out at 5:45am for our first agency visit (a breakfast club serving orphans nearby) but decided to postpone so as not to travel in the dark while assessing the situation.

By 8:30, it was clear that things in Kampala were proceeding as usual. We were given the go-ahead to continue with our next agency visit-- the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI), which works on human rights causes in Uganda. We also visited AIDS Widows Orphans Family Support (AWOFS), which provides a variety of services: counseling, microfinance lending, academic support, education and testing around HIV/AIDS and other STDs, etc. AWOFS provides services specifically to children who have been orphaned by AIDS, and to parents who have lost a spouse to the disease. These organizations were both really interesting, but I'm especially interested in working more with AWOFS.

After that, we visited the Babies' Home, which is an orphanage for children under the age of 6 who have been orphaned (mostly by AIDS). It was both wonderful and heartbreaking. The older kids were in classes when we were there, but the babies (probably up to a little over a year in age) were so excited to see us. We spent about an hour and a half holding and playing with the babies. The orphanage was sparsely furnished, with somewhat crowded little bedrooms. We spent time with the babies out in the yard. One thing that was striking was that there were almost no toys there. We are planning to go and get some to bring over the next time we're there.

I held a little girl named Gift for most of the time we were there-- she was probably around 9 or 10 months old. She found some beads in the grass and was really interested in trying to put them down my shirt. She was also excited about my camera. She fell asleep after a little while and stayed asleep until one of the volunteers came to get her for her bath. I also held a tiny little boy for awhile-- he was probably around 3 months old and hardly weighed anything. We helped the staff and volunteers get the babies ready for bathtime, and then headed out. Of course, when we put the babies down, they began screaming. It was so hard to walk away!

Kampala has been great to far, although this weekend has felt more like vacation than anything else. We have been able to get oriented to the city and unpack. Yesterday we went on a driving tour of Kampala, and visited an amazing mosque. We also stopped at a Catholic church and a Protestant church. Later in the day we went to a craft fair-- it was booth after booth of amazing things. In the afternoon, we went to a nearby resort to swim and relax. It was beautiful but so luxurious it was bizarre (considering where we are).

I've been so excited to start the actual work today, so it's too bad that last night's bombings have put a damper on things. I'll post when we hear any more news about the situation.

The internet is pretty slow at the moment, so I'll put some pictures in a separate post.