Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Lots of pictures for everyone to see :)

Ahhh- Sweet life. Almost two weeks here and I'm so happy and content. Last week was settling in time and this week I'm starting to get down to work. Each day at a different time, I'm meeting with a different grade level to do my PACA (Participatory Analysis for Community Action). It's pretty fun meeting with all of the girls doing little ice-breakers (what will my life be like when I finally have a real job that won't begin with an ice-breaker?). They seem receptive to me, but they keep reminding me that I'm 'a white', so that's interesting. Some of the tools that PACA uses are drawing community maps, doing daily schedules, seasonal calendars, and priority ranking. All of the information you receive comes from your community so that you're not attempting to implement any programs that don't match what the community needs or wants. It's really interesting work, and I'm learning so much. For example, by having them do their daily schedules for the school day and the weekend I was able to find out when they have free time on the weekends for me to do a program with them, and through the community map I learned that they are doing pretty much everything in their dorm rooms. Eating, sleeping, studying, etc, but they really enjoy the green area in front of the school, so hopefully we can do something to pull some of their daily activities out there and break up the massive amounts of time they spend in their cramped dorms. All of the pictures I put up are from training and I haven't had much time to take any while at site, but I'll try to take some of my house and the school (and me) and put them up soon. Also, sorry, but I still don't have a mailing address. It's making me crazy because I want to get letters from home so badly, but the post office is pretty far away and I keep forgetting to bring enough money or passport pictures or other random things the teller decides I need to bring that day.
I'm living very well and last night I even made homemade lime chips! I'm having such a great time cooking new things here and experimenting. I made guacamole last week and shared it with my neighbors. They freaked out; they loved it so much, even though they keep calling it kwachamoolia. Oh well... :)
I hope you enjoy looking at the pictures as much as I enjoyed taking them.
Blessings and prayers from Masindi,
Tor

2 comments:

veekay said...

I love you friend and am SO happy that things are going well!

Susie said...

Tori you look so good! So glad you are settled. Those girls are so lucky to have you. We miss you especially Abby!

Love,
A. Susie