July 13, 2011

  • Over the hill

    So Lizzy and I are BOTH over the hill now.  We have passed the age old mark of 30.  As I type, my joints are aching, my arthritis is acting up... boy I pity the elderly!  Just kidding!

    I will say, that my 30th birthday was extremely memorable.  We experienced our first public transportation strike (which made getting to our final destination very difficult!).  The kids got to see why we are here.  We were presented songs by a choir from Edusabo Community Junior School.  And we were privileged to have the opportunity to learn how to make bricks.  For the record, we are not very good at it!  The quota for an acceptable days work is 500-1000 bricks.  In an hour of brick making, we made 38 bricks.  Pathetic!!

    The school where we were at was in Kasawo.  It is about an hour and a half drive north of Kampala.  The school is currently blessed with 431 enrolled students.  As you can see briefly in our video of brick making, the school has a modest start for construction.  However, it really needs to be finished so that the students have an acceptable learning environment.  They have most of their current classes held in three temporary rooms and a church.  More importantly, this church is an outreach into a majority Muslim community.  There are many Muslim students that attend this Christian elementary school because of the high level of academics.  So completing the school would improve on the appeal even more!

    We did ALL have a really good time... as you can see from the picture!  (FDA does not approve of excess mud swallowing.  The result is turrets... see Grace in the picture!)

    We have made a small tutorial on traditional Ugandan brick making.  Please excuse the misbehavior, we were cooped up in a taxi for two hours prior to starting.  Check out our video library on the weblog...

    I personally want to thank everyone for the birthday wishes.  Thank you!

    Chad Neeley

    Construction Coordinator - WWCS Uganda/USA