Live Life Positively

May 22, 2010 will be a day I never want to forget for a second. I want it to be on my mind every time I get in my car. Every time I go to McDonalds on my lunch break at work. Every time I tell myself I need a new shirt for a night out. I want to always remember the things I saw, did, smelled and heard today.
My day started with one of our boys, B, leaving for his new home after meeting his new parents for the first time 7 weeks ago. He is headed to Nashville and will have 2 brothers, a sister, a dog and a cat all waiting to meet him in person for the first time ever. I am so happy for him and wish his family nothing but blessings from here on in.
And then I went with Natalie, Chad and Sarah to 3 African villages. Our host, Sam, and his wife, Catherine, were nothing short of incredible and we kept joking around about how we were being treated like movie stars. Sam and his wife are the directors of an organization - Widows and Orphans Compassion Assistance Program... Or WOCAP for short. Basically, WOCAP takes women and children under their wing and creates villages to help these people get back on their feet. They are mostly HIV Positive and are taught simple life skills to sustain their life. The women are shown how to do "crafts" which actually turned out to be mostly the beading I last posted about, they are taught to sew as well as farming so they can have food, clothing and shelter all within their village. The children are placed in a school which is created within the village and are given an education. All 3 villages are apart of the WOCAP mission and the first village I visted, actually had an HIV/AIDs clinic so many of the Positive people are taught to "Live Life Positively" versus letting the Positive live their life... Get it?
The village names were:
1)Namagera
2)Nakakulwe Bulondo
3)Bobogo
I was blown away and overwhelmed all day. The hospitality each villaged showed was unbelievable. They had no idea when we were coming so each village literally waited for hours for us. All 3 times, we got out of the car to hootiing and hollering. Cheering and people in our faces just waiting to shake our hands, give us hugs and welcome us as one of their own. The women were dressed in their traditional African dresses and tried their best to speak English to us. We were shown the beads and their crops and ended up playing with the kids.
And then, when we left... we were given fruits and vegetables as a sign of appreciation and respect. They literally handed all 4 of us handfuls of potatoes, papaya, bananas, squash, eggs and roots. We got home and put everything in black garbage bags and we have 3 bags FULL of fruit and veggies and more sitting on the counter. These people literally have nothing but the bare bones basics and they are giving US their crops? What?! I was blown away. Each village was exactly the same in how they treated us. And we really were like movie stars.
It made me open my eyes and realize just what is really important in life. I got to talking to one of the executives of WOCAP and he was talking money to me. Did you know the average African makes roughly 50$ a month? School for a child is roughly 1200$ a year if they want to go to a higher rated institution. Rent can be upwards of 250$ a month. The women of WOCAP are trying to live a life for themselves without much and they are truly doing it.
After our visits were over, we were taken to a hillside that overlooked the Nile River. It was already dark out so we chose a spot close to the edge of the hill and sat down for a dinner by candlelight. We ate rice, mashed potatoes, veggies, papaya, avacodo and beef with fruit juice and coffee. It was so peaceful sitting under a sky filled with the half moon and stars so close I felt like I could touch them with the rapids and falls swishing and roaring in the background. It was calmingly quiet and so real. I thought of The Lion King a couple times. =) It was a perfect ending to our day.
I had such a fantastic day and I am so happy I got to visit with my new friends. I never want to take for granted what I have back home and I always want to remember the red dust in my ears, the smell of cows and goats grazing beside the mud houses, the children wearing dirty and tattered, too small or too big clothing while playing with bike tire wheels. I want to remember the big white, perfect smiles. It will be a day I use to keep my attitude in check for the rest of my life.

Kwagala Nyo*