day 4

So I thought I would tell you what my time here looks like in a more concrete way. We just got out of community breakfast and week planning, and so here goes my calender:

Sunday – day of rest. We do absolutely no work related thing. Generally people go to the pool or to the nile, but I will be spending all of tomorrow doing schoolwork and laying in my hammock.

Monday – we are going to the market at 10am to find trunks to lock up belongings since we are hiring a new cleaning lady since betty will be in school full time starting in march or april for three months. There have been many incidences of people stealing, even people we trusted and that betty trusted. After that we’re going to walukuba (a neighboring village) from 11-2:30 to visit some suubi women and so I can get to know walukuba better. At 3 is necklace/beading class, where we teach the women the new product lines.

Tuesday – going with Andrea to see the Epoh tailors and meet them. Then we are off to see Zora, a suubi woman on our way to masese, to help with child feeding with renee. Then we hope to be moving the Epoh’s office.

Wednesday – We are going to Soweta at 11, which is an extremely poor village where some suubi women live. Their housing = huts, whereas most of the women have at least cement foundations. Then we are going to see / pick up Dorine. She is 20, and very intelligent. She was hit by a military vehicle when she was running from an LRA attack, which left her paralyzed when she was 9. We will be taking Dorine to English class with us at 3. That evening is volunteer bonding time where we have a movie night and make it a point not to do work.

Thursday – we are going to visit Getu, who lives in Babu. Then Christine has welcomed us over for chicken lunch (which is a big deal because meat is expensive) then we have community dinner with eachother and talk about goals and accomplishments.

Friday – Breakfast club in the morning. We take breakfast to a village of some of the suubi women, to have community time with them and promote community of the suubi women within their villages. The villages are on a cycle rotation, so we don’t go to the same women every week in a row. At 5pm are varnishing a desk at the tailors.

Saturday – meeting at 11 to discuss the next week. Acholi dance is from 1-3, and then Suubi at 3. Suubi is when the women bring the necklaces they made that week, and we inspect them, and then pay them. Which is a great day.


Any free time we have we either spend trying to get items we need, building and establishing new programs such as budgeting class and healthcare class, which we hope to be starting soon which is so great. Luo literacy class should be beginning again on Tuesdays. Everything is pretty not structured for the most part. Besides Suubi on Saturday, and English class on Wednesday, nothing else is really too set in stone. I’m highly excited for the future plans and all of the freedom for work. This is probably the best work environment ever. I know it’s only the first week but I feel as though I could stay forever, if I had a real job. It’s just so affirming to know that the work environment I want to work in the rest of my life is now tangible, and more than possible. Yay for the future!