We arrived at SeaTac Airport at around 2:30pm last Wednesday, both excited and nervous about the adventure awaiting us on the other side of the world.

When we arrived in London, we basically passed out on the floor. Planes are awful for sleeping, you know!

About 24 hours later at about 6:30 am on Friday we arrived in Uganda. Finally! It was certainly a long flight...or rather they were long flights.

We piled into the airconditioned (!!!) bus with our luggage and made our way to a resturant with Hon. Nsambu where he introduced himself and the rest of the Ugandan team to us and we ate breakfast.

Then we made our way through some crazy Kampala traffic to the Ugandan Parliament building.

At the Parliament we ate a traditional Ugandan lunch; some of us were happy to see the matoke again, some were not.

On our way to Masaka we stopped at the equator and took a few group photos. Don't we look chipper?

Many other things continue to happen. To see more of our photos, please go here.

That's all for now, folks!

For the past few months C4U has been collecting computers. We're about 3/4ths to our goal, I believe. Thank you so much if you have made donations or helped out this project in anyway thus far--it keeps C4U breathing.

Also, we've putting together Team 2006--our 20 person in-country team (the largest in this project's history) and everyone who is helping but staying in the U.S. I must say that we've been getting a lot of group help this year from people who are not traveling to Uganda with us; it's all simply incredible.



Today we had our first group computer inventory meeting, where we strarted testing the computers we have so far, then documented and labled them with their current specifications. Once we're done with this step, we can ghost the computers. "Ghosting" is another term for imaging the computers, or simply: installing the operating system and programs on all the computers.



Once we were done, we took a snack break and discussed fundraising for the project. To give you an idea: we must raise about $11,000 this year...



See you after the next meeting!

Mzungu is the Lugandad word for white person. We hear adults and children alike shout it wherever we go. It’s been quite comical for us! And of course, we have perfected our regal waves from our large van windows and feel like celebrities wherever we go!

I am sorry that I have not written sooner. Truly, we have not been near an internet café, nor have we really had the time. Our schedule is extremely busy and we have all been working hard!

But since I wrote last, we have installed computers at several schools. The installations are always quite fast, but of course, we have to troubleshoot with a few computers each day. The teaching is always the most grueling and challenging part. Many of the students have never used a computer and so, as you can imagine, even teaching the concept of a mouse can be quite a task!

Aside from computer installation and training, we have also been having a great deal of fun. Yesterday we visited the Nile river. We have also been to two Ugandan weddings – one in a village and one in the city. The upcoming week will be packed with school installations and training.

Another email from Uganda:

We just came back from Kampala. We went there a couple of days to celebrate the 4th at the American Recreation Center. We were a little late because our trip to see the source of the Nile took so long. It was a three hour drive in this little VW van both ways. The Nile was awesome, though. We watched some rafters fight through the rapids, and one guy floated down the rapids on a jelly can!

The 4th of July party at the recreation center was okay... However, as we were waiting in line, prizes were being drawn for some of the people who came there. "Up next is a washing machine!" the announcer bellowed. Jesse laughed and said, "Who needs a washing machine, anyway?" Seconds afterward her name was announced as the winner of the washing machine...weird, eh?
She still has to pick it up, but she's going to give it to the Kitovu Center.

This and the previous blogs came from Biyeun's emails from Uganda:

To leave off on a funny note...In my last email, I forgot to mention the auction at the village we were at. Well, the people there held an auction in our honor to raise money for the school and stuff. We, however, did not realize this at first. They had brought a goat (live one) and set it on top of the bench. The way they were holding it, it looked like they were going to break its neck. We were like, "Oh, my God...are they going to sacrifice the goat?" Then the guy started calling out...1,000 shillings,etc. and we finally realized it was an auction. Mr. Winsnes joined in and the auction went up to 100,000 shillings...bringing forward a few gasps from the crowd. (However, 100,000 shillings is only about $50). He won the goat and we piled it into the back of the truck with the sugar cane, banannas, and put the two fish on the grill of the truck...Oh man...it was hilarious. We ended up donating the goat to one of John's brothers and named it Dr. Secretary after the experience we had at the kareoke. How fun is that?

BB's email continued: I'm now sitting at this internet cafe near the Kitova Center. Mr. Winsnes, Teep (John Nsambu's brother, who is very cool!), and I just finished talking to the manager about their Internet connection. The connect via a dish to a tower a mile or so away. The connection speed is about 64 KB. Guess how much they are paying? 1.7 million shillings a month! That's 1,000 dollars a month...for 64 KB! Insanity! On the 12th, right before we leave, Mr. Winsnes and I will meet with the Communications Chairman in Uganda (Equivalent to the FCC Chairman in the US) to talk about making Internet more widely available across the country--which is something I am very interested in. When I was training the kids, they would often ask me if they could send emails from the computer, or if the Internet worked. I sadly had to say no...It's something we take so much for granted because the Internet is everywhere in our lives. The kids only have Encarta, which in comparison is so limited.

BB's email: We just finished three schools this week.They have all been so welcoming and thankful. I feel so blessed to be able to help all of these people out. One school we went to yesterday was in the middle of a poor neighborhood. The buildings were covered with dust, the walls were made out of mud and makeshift bricks. The campus was very small for the amount of students it had. But in the middle of this school was a clean, whitewashed computer lab with individual desks set up along the power outlets on the wall...The parents had pitched in all their time, effort, and money to create this computer lab just for us to setup 15 computers. This high tech lab in the middle of a dustbowl...incredible. The staff held a celebration for us with traditional African folk dances and a couple drama performances. The fight against AIDS is really prevalent now...there are AIDS awareness posters everywhere. Even the played we saw had themes about the destructiveness of AIDS, etc.

Comment: So many here in Washington contributed to make this project possible and I hope through this they can feel part of it..

Uganda has been very enjoyable and exciting. The people here are very friendly...wherever we go on the street or in the car people are always smiling at us. I think I've heard "You are welcome" about a million times since we arrived. All of us are getting along pretty well.

A few days ago we went to a very poor village to hand out clothes. We saw the school houses that the villagers had made. The teacher explained to us that the children, over the weekend, would gather up cow dung in banana leaves and spread it on the floor, creating a makeshift "concrete." Once it dried, it kept the dust away. (The red dust gets EVERYWHERE) The villagers gave us a very warm reception, the school children danced and sang their national anthem and their school song for us. Little kids crowded around our cameras to see themselves on the LCD screens...it was adorable!

We got here early this morning. We're alright. We brought the rain from Seattle...how cool is that? London was crazy...never buy stuff there. Just a bottle of water is so expensive...gah. The flight was okay...British served good food, so I was happy.

The people here in Uganda are pretty nice, but crazy drivers. Our driver drove on the sidewalk a bit to get to the cafe. We just got back from registering with the U.S. Embassy. The weirdest thing I saw so far was a cow standing in the middle of the road during rush hour chewing on a piece of grass or something. Just a lone cow...standing there...lol

Just so you know, we're safe. Although it's a bit odd being the minority now...everyone just kind of stares at you..."OH! Look! Pale white kids!"

"I just wanted to let you all know that we have arrived safely in Entebbe, Uganda. The flights were certainly long. However, we managed to survive and are now getting some business done in Uganda. We have already checked in at the US embassy this morning and I believe that we are headed to Masaka this afternoon, after we exchange money and eat some peanut butter sandwiches (the PB was brought from home)! Please know that we are all safe and already enjoying the wonderful hospital of John Nsambu and many other Ugandans."

Hey guys,
I hope your finals were successful...
Wow, the year has flown by.
See you at the airport tomorrow!

I gave my mom an account for the blog...she's in charge for now (beware)

I called Chris, the man at the Kirkland Park Place Monday night and he said that Saturday March 26th, 2005 at 10AM is definitely confirmed. So I hope to see everyone there, we ask that we have as much participation as possible for this one! Each person needs to sell 12 tickets (wither you’re going to be there or not); we'll have those tickets for you all later. We’ll have tickets for you by Saturday’s meeting. If you want, for now, you can take the name of those people who want to buy tickets and reserve a spot for them. I know that this is over a lot of our Spring breaks, so a lot of people aren’t going to be there - but if you can, please try as hard as possible to make it! Thanks guys. Where are we on publicity as far as Mt. Si is concerned?

In Christ,
-Britt
<><

Sounds great Britt, i will be there for sure. I will send an email to Mrs. Berg, she is the director of the DECA store and at MSHS and see what she can do for promotion. I can also see about getting it put on the morning announcments to make sure that everyone knows about it. From the few people that i have told about it they think it is a really good fundraiser and a not a bad price either, lets hope we sell all of the tickets and no one shows up! I also know the owners of the North Bend Movie Theatre, they are really nice and they hosted a couple of kids from the Ugandan drum beat group that came over this summer, i can talk to them about any kind of contribution they could make, they are the coolest people ever and will probably be more than happy to help.

Hello Everyone!

On Saturday March 26th, 2005 we will be promoting the movie "Ms. Congeniality 2" which will be playing in the morning to raise movie for our trip in June! We will be working concession, so we need everyone to show up and help. Tickets are $20 a piece. We will be getting $7.20 profit from every movie ticket sold. The ticket will include the price of the movie itself and then a large popcorn and large soda, along with our donation. And if the person that you sold the ticket to doesn’t show up we get the entire $20 or if they don't want popcorn and a soda - then we get our donation along with the price of the popcorn and soda! We will have to sell the tickets ourselves, so start telling friends and family about this now. There are 144 seats in the movie theater, so if 12 people sell 12 tickets each we shouldn’t have any problems! Well, I’ll have more information as we get closer to our date! And hopefully I’ll have tickets made and printed by our meeting next Saturday! Have a nice day!

In Christ,
-Britt

Address of the Movie Theater:

Kirkland Parkplace
Management Office
401 Parkplace, Suite 105
Kirkland, WA 98033

I just want to congratulate everyone who made their first straight-through cables yesterday!

There will be a lot more cable-making in the days to come...

The website is finally up after months of planning. Whew! Well, I hope you all like it!