Fall, my fav.

Well, it's been a while now. I think I'm doing well with a monthly update, don't you??

Let's see, I feel like I ended my updates back at Natalie's wedding day which means i only have the entire summer to describe. perfect.

First, it's fall. And, guys, fall is my favorite. i just ate a huge bowl of pumpkin soup with cinnamon bread croutons on top. yum. I also made three batches of pumpkin chocolate chip cookies yesterday in my new kitchen aid mixer. it's a great time of year, indeed.

I do think I need to backtrack. Natalie got married June 22, but Mossy Mags also got married back in May as did my beautiful anak, Claire. So lots of weddings happened before we headed off to Africa and we were so grateful we got to be apart of that.

Back to Africa. I'm not entirely sure where to start, but I feel like a summary is best. if i were to explain allll that went down, well, that would take probs about....i dunno, 3 months?

June: Megan and I arrived in country and got right to work. Essentially or randomized control trial was to evaluate the great NGO, Days for Girls. We wanted to help them see strengths and weaknesses in their program in Uganda so that they could continue to bless the lives of so many and move forward. The goal was to find three different secondary schools with girls 12-18 that we could interview, give feminine hygiene kits to, and also teach a health and self defense training to. With the help of the Days for Girls team we were able to contact and locate the schools and we were prepared to interview about 500 girls or roughly 150-200 girls from each school. Needless to say, things don't always go as smoothly as you hope/anticipate despite alll the preparation and hard work put forth. We also had struggles getting our IRB approval from BYU (which in my humble opinion was insane b/c we were only doing evaluation, not an actual experiment!!!! But, it's cool, BYU. grateful for the experience...or something..) Because of the delay with the IRB it set our project back a ton and we weren't able to do the second round of data collection while we were there. The great DfG-Uganda team had to do that just this month actually.

Anyways, at the end of July (on Jared's 23rd bday actually) we finally could go out and do the interviews and we left for the day and headed to Kakooge in Luweero. There, 13 of us interviewed the girls as well as had them draw a picture of themselves to display their self perception, etc. It took hours and hour s and hours to interview all those girls, but it was sure fun! We then handed out the feminine hygiene kits which became quite the stressful situation. Did you know in Uganda they don't believe in lines? Lots of chaos occurred, but we eventually got it all taken care of. It was an exhausting day. as was the drive home. ughhghgh. construction. dust. stopped traffic. then our driver tried to rip us off. a lot. man, we were so glad when that day was over.

on the second day we left early and arrived at Luweero secondary school. A nice , well organized school. they did not have as many participants return the parent consent form so that ended up being about 130 students or so. It still took hours and hours bc we only had about 8 people interviewing. also, it rained. no big deal right? Well, when it rains in africa everything and everyone just needs to wait. this pushed the crucial training back. the uganda team had their own struggles as well at this point that affected the training, but those have been addressed and fixed. basically, the Days for Girls training did not occur and it became a question answer session. We then handed out the feminine hygiene kits. It ran a little smoother but still stressful.

that ride home was rough also. so many different opinions and emotions. yikes. glad that day is over.

the third day we weren't sure if anyone from the uganda team would show up because of the previous days events and high emotions. but they did. phew. in fact, our van was stuck in the mud and they showed up just in time in their little car. after pushing the van a lot without any success, it was decided that we all cram into the little car. that would be 11 of us in a 6 person car? yes. it got stuck in the mud a bit, but we survived and got to our last location, Victoria SS. the head mistress and principle were great. things ran a lot smoother this day because the school was organized, smaller, and professional, and probably because we were more organized as well. this school was a little more remote than the others and had a greater need for the feminine hygiene kits and the health and self defense training. some of the girls answers/stories were heartbreaking. i was so grateful for organizations like Days for Girls that want to reach out and find the girls who have no voice in their community.

the day ended and we were happy as can be. but, this of course was just the beginning of our project. the data was collected, but we had to set up a time for the second round of data to be collected.

Days for Girls -Uganda also went through a lot of changes (for the better) because of what we were able to discover from our evaluation. i'm grateful for the opportunity we had to work with them and help them make the changes necessary to improve their program and continue to help girls all around the world.

We are excited to get data back and see what else we can do to help girls in africa and throughout the world. We are trying to see through this randomized control trial if these feminine hygiene kits are making a difference for the girls and especially if the kits are helping them stay in school and receive an education. Previous experiments in other parts of the world showed that there was not a significant difference of girls education whether they used feminine hygiene products or not. However, that study compared using menstrual cups vs cloth. Our study compares girls who have NO supplies vs the girls that have this feminine hygiene kit so it is essentially a huge difference in our study. The previous studies have women comparing if their supplies impact if they attend school, our girls started out having no supplies which hindered them from going to school some days. Make sense??

A sad update: Luweero SS won't let us come back for a second round interview so unfortunately that affects our data immensely. Apparently we did not go through the right hoops when getting approval to work in their school. the District officer found out we had been there and is STILL upset about it. after many attempts they still will not allow DfG-Uganda on their school property. LAME, right?!

Well, that was long. i'm tired.

africa in bullet point form:

-i got sick

-i got sick again

-i got sick again again

-really stressful

-really stressful

-jared had worst birthday ever

-went to rwanda!

-saw the genocide memorials

-saw hotel rwanda

-ate at really good restaurants at least 2 times a week (bless them!)

-went on a safari!

-lots of stress

-good class discussions

-best roomies ever! (our cousins, ryan and sarah!)

-great movies watched

-human planet is cool

-the bachelorette! SUCH A TENDER MERCY DON'T EVEN JUDGE ME

-met great friends

-went back to lugazi town!!!!!

-crazy crazy traffic

-loved gulu

-loved gulu again

-gulu was our sanctuary

-country club swimming (cold. not chlorinated. not that great. but great nachos!)

-sister came to africa with African Promise Foundation!!

-helped distribute more days for girls feminine hygiene kits with apf

-celebrated sister's bday in Uganda!

-i love africa and teaching public health

-made rocket stoves

-stayed in a hut made of recycled water bottles

-went back to gulu and loved it again!

-took the night bus back to kampala (the most stressful 7 hours of my existence)

-massages at the country club

-lost 10 pounds! (gained it back in america.... thanks,USA.)

Overall, Africa was so incredible. It was hard. Africa is always hard. But, i have no regrets. i am so grateful with all. of. my. heart. that i got to go back with my husband! I also loved being there when my sister came and some of my chicago friends came. i will forever love africa. it is a place that changed my heart forever. this time it was a different experience than the first time i went as a young 20 year old. :) going with byu made it different for sure. i felt a little more sheltered. a little more like i was observing the culture rather than being a part of it. but nonetheless, it was a summer to remember. i learned a ton about research and all it entails. i learned a ton about the school systems and the politics and organization that goes with that. i learned a ton about an organization that is doing literally all it can to reach girls around the world and give them back days. i sure loved that part of it.

i'm not sure when i will go back, but i know i will. i aching pull to get there has subsided a bit, but i know i will return. the country and that people will always be a part of me.

now though, the aching , tugging, pulling is focused on getting me back to the philippines.

as my friend katie once said, "I think part of our purpose for being here (in Uganda 2008) is to find the places over this beautiful earth which mean the most to us. We should find those places where we leave a part of our heart on purpose so that when we die, we die having our love speckled all over the globe."

so much love.

did you know as you love more, your ability to love literally increases? (pmg, Charity).

i believe that with all my heart.

well, here's to another update. here's to you , africa. thanks for another great adventure, as always.

heart,

tor