Meike's World (Here you can find anything related to my trip to Uganda.) : comments

Selling of crafts at Reinheimer Market!

meike07 — 2010-04-22T12:55:00Z

Hello everyone,

on June 5th & 6th I am selling crafts where the earnings go to El Shadai. I will sell at the Reinheimer Market in Reinheim, Germany.

I will sell Ugandan crafts, like batiks, neclaces, bags.

For sure the El Shadai Family and myself would be happy, if you would come to this opportunity. If you don't have the opportunity to visit the Market, plase tell other interested people about it and have a look on my homepage, where I sell a part of the crafts.

Best regards
Meike

Volunteer in Ghana

Richard (guest) — 2010-04-15T20:53:02Z

I want to invite you to experience the culture of Ghana too.It's somehow similar to that of Uganda

Taking part on certification course

meike07 — 2010-03-29T09:26:00Z

Hello together,

sorry that I didn't write for a long time. End of October last year I moved into the appartment together with my boyfriend.

In November I started a certification course. At the end of the course I will be "Coordinator in international projectmanagement" with the main focus in developing aid and humanitarian aid. Until end of February I had the theoretical seminar in Witzenhausen, Germany at the GNE (Organisation for sustainable development). Since beginning of March I am in my internship at World University Service in Wiesbaden, Germany. In the internship I do a lot of different tasks in public relations, which is very interesting.
The internship will last until May 21st, 2010 and my final exam of the certification course will be in the laast week of April.

Take care & don't forget me
Meike

I will move into another appartment in November

meike07 — 2009-09-01T10:53:00Z

Hello together,

in November I will move together with my boyfriend into another appartment. Yesterday we signed the contract for the rent of the appartment.
We will then live together in Steinbach im Taunus (northwestern from Frankfurt).

We are so happy!

Best regards
Meike

Begin of a new period of life

meike07 — 2009-07-30T12:17:00Z

Hello everyone,

I wanted to tell you from my newest development.
tomorrow will be my last working day with EDS, my employer for the last 8 years.
I signed a voluntarily dissolution contract and will take the opportunity to go into a transfer and qualification organisation (TQG). I took this step because I was already thinking about going into another area.

Starting October I will be at the TQG which will pay me then and additional they offer me qualifications, which will bring me hopefully in the right direction, because I want to o into the social area.
The TQG will pay for 12 months, if I don't find a job earlier.

Best wishes
Meike

Successful picture show and selling of crafts!

meike07 — 2009-07-17T06:43:00Z

Hello together,

last weekend I showed at my mum's place pictures from Uganda and sold Ugandan crafts.

Thank you to everyone who came!!

I earned about 600 Euros, from which a small part will go to the maker of the crafts and the rest will go to El Shadai.

Meike

New articles to sell!

meike07 — 2009-06-14T18:54:00Z

I uploaded new articles in the El shadai Shop.

Articles like bags (small and big), batiks, cards, neclaces, bracelets and aprons.

If you are interested check on my homepage.

Best regards
Meike

P.S.: The earnings will be given to El Shadai Home, but I will pay first the producer of the crafts, most of them were not paid in advance.

Pictures online

meike07 — 2009-06-02T17:30:00Z

Hello together,

I uploaded my new Uganda pics.

You can find them here.

Best regards
Meike

Back in Germany

meike07 — 2009-05-31T12:34:00Z

Hello everyone,

since this morning I am back in Germany. I even got some hours sleep because the journey was long.

I had a fantastic time in Uganda and miss everybody back there.

Greetings from Germany
Meike

Additional donations needed

meike07 — 2009-05-23T08:18:00Z

Hello together,

I need additional donations here at El Shadai. It would be wonderful, if we find some more who would donate some money. If you can"t donate yourself it would be kind if you could spread this message to friends.

Donations for the following things are needed:
- ca. 12 Euro (30.000 USH - Ugandan Shillings) for 10 kg ginger seedlings, to plant them in the El Shadai owned garden, so that they don"t need to buy this in the future and even can sell some
- ca. 36 Euro (90.000 USH) for 10 kg potato seedlings for the garden
- ca. 112 Euro (280.000 USH) for rice seedlings incl. planting for the garden (that can be paid in rates)
- ca. 68 Euro (70.000 USH) for plantane banana ssedlings incl. planting for the garden (that can be paid in rates)
- ca. 84 Euro (210.000 USH) for outstanding bills for food
- ca. 96 Euro (240.000 USH) for outstanding bills for medical treatment
- ca. 160 Euro (400.000 USH) for university fees, so that Agnes can finish her second year at university.

Please tell others about it, so that we can get all the needed donations together.

Thank you a lot also in the name of the El Shadai Family
Meike

I arrived well in Uganda

meike07 — 2009-05-11T08:49:00Z

Hello everzone,

I arrived well at El Shadai Home on Saturday, even if the flight was really long and I was very tired.

It seemed like I have been only away for a few days, the children welcomed me heartly and everyone is happy that I am back.

Last night and this morning it rained heavily and now everything is muddy.

Today I will do some visits in Jinja, I will visit some firends and surprise them.

Many greetings from Uganda
Meike

Info to money donation

meike07 — 2009-04-22T11:26:00Z

Hello everyone,

if you want to give money donations, I will list you the possibilities how you can do this:

- you can transfer me the money through a bank transaction (please contact me, so that I can send you my bank details)
- you can transfer me money through PayPal (for that you need to scroll down to the yellow button "Spenden" = that means donation in German)
- you can give it to me personally

Thank you!
Meike

I can take donations with me again

meike07 — 2009-04-22T07:22:00Z

Hello everyone,

for all who want to donate something, I created a list with possible donations.
But keep in mind that money donations are very appreciated because I can see in Ugnada what is needed and buy it there or pay some doctor bills.

Flashlights with crank or rechargeable batteries
Band Aids in all sizes
Wristwatch
Threads for friendship bracelets
Children DVDs in English
Baseball caps
Pens
Drawing books
Clothing:
Blouses for girls, shirts for boys (I got some), thin socks, underwear, skirts (not to short), pants for boys, black shoes (the clothing should be robust)
Tooth brushs
Battery recharger

Please be aware to ask me infront of sending me donations, because I need to check if I got it already from somebody else and if I have enough space in my luggage. And please dont send me heavy and too big things.

Thank you a lot in advance!!

Best regards
Meike

I will fly to Uganda again

meike07 — 2009-04-21T06:15:00Z

Hello everyone,

I will fly to Uganda in May and stay for 3 weeks. I will depart on May 8th in Frankfurt (Germany) and arrive in entebbe (Uganda) a day later.

I am already very excited to see everybody again, the children, the home leader, all my friends in Jinja.

i will stay again at El Shadai Home, but won't take over special tasks like last year, because I want to enjoy my vacation without always checking the time.

Regarding donations i will let you know soon, because I first have to clarify how much free luggage I am alowed to take with me. Unfortunately money donations are always welcome!

Best regards
Meike

Report about my stay in Uganda

meike07 — 2009-03-10T14:31:00Z

Hello together,

some of you waited already for a while that I translate my report about my experiences in Uganda, the waiting has an end!

For everyone who doesnt know what I did in Uganda, here a short description:
I was in a foster home in Ugnada for 3,5 months, I stayed and worked there as a volunteer.

Here I created an interview out of all the questions which I got from other people. I hope I can answer all your questions with this report, otherwise you still can ask questions.

~ Why did you wanted to do voluntarily work? ~
I decided to do this work because I always wanted to do something with children. In my job, as IT projectmanager, I cant live my social type. And I wanted to make children happy which live in a poorer relation then people in Germany.

~ Why did you go to Ugnada and not to another country in Africa? ~
First of all I was always fascinated by Africa, thats why it should be an African coutnry. I decided for Uganda because I have sponsored children there, which I wanted to visit and which made myself open for their country. Then I was fascinted by a country which is not yet crowded by tourists.

~ What was your goal, your motivation for your trip? ~
My goal was it to make people happy and to transfer a positive attitude towards life. My motivation was, that I was sure to make people in Uganda happy with simple things.

~ Which wishes and expectations did you have before your trip? ~
My greatest wish was to be welcomed of the natives and the people in the foster home. I didnt have any expectations because Ive never been to Africa before except of Egypt, I didnt want to make myself a picture out of the media, thats why I flew to Uganda without any real expectations. So I couldnt get disappointed, in any case I had to except what was coming, no expectations could have helped me.

~ Did your expectations come true? ~
Yes, they got fulfilled. The natives welcomed and integrated me especially the El Shadai Family, the children and the homeleader, where I stayed. My help bears fruits, if you can help in just 3,5 months. And could make a lot of people happy.

~ And now about the home where you stayed. How many children are living there and how old are they? ~
At the El Shadai Foster Home, which was grounded by the native Stephen, there live about 35 children. During my stay the youngest, Gloria, was 3 years old, she is going to kindergarden. The oldest one, Issac, is 23 years old and goes already to university. There is one other girl, Agnes, which goes to university, all the others are going to school, about 10 children are at boarding school.

~ Are there as well disabled children at the home? ~
Really disabled children are not at the home, but every single child had a sad and bad childhood, some still have to fight their traumas.

~ Are there only real orphans staying in the home or where do the children come from? ~
A part of the children are real orphans, but as well there are social orphans, where the parents cant support their children. And then there are children which came out of other reasons, e.g. some of the girls should get married to an odler man.

~ How many children got supported by one adult? ~
Real home care helpers werent there caused through lack of money. When I arrived, beginning of May 2008, there were only the home leader and the volunteers to take care of the children. Since beginning of July 2008 there were two additional employees, which normally support other community projects and do work at the office. One of the woman, Jane, stays in the foster home and acts there as a home care helper when she is around.

~ Did the people (employees and children) come directly to you or did this take some time? ~
I had already a heartly welcome at the airport, even when I had to wait almost 1,5 hours caused through a traffic jam in Kampala. Some of the children welcomed me with open arms at the home when I arrived at around 0:40 am. Even on my first day almost all the children and the home leader came to me. Threre were some shy children as well which needed to get warm with me.

~ How was it with the communication, did you speak English with everybody or did you learn a few phrases in another language? ~
Basically English is the offical language in Uganda, because uganda was a british colony. Even so that English is the offical language not every native does speak English. In Ugnada there are a lot of differnet tribes combined, so that somebody from the North doesnt have to understand somebody from the South or East.
All of the children at El Shadai speak English because they had already volunteers for more then 2 years. When they speak to each other then they speak their local languages, Lusoga and Luganda. Because I am not talented in languages, I could only remember a few phrases in Lusoga.

~ As we just spoke about the language, please tell us something about Uganda as a country. ~
Uganda is in East Africa, in the North there is the Sudan, in the East is Kenya, in the south Tanzania, in the Southwest Ruanda and in the West Congo. The boarders to Kenya and Tanzania are partly in Lake Victoria.
There is no big time difference to Germany. During my stay in Uganda, when it was summertime in Germany, we had one hour time differnece, when it was 6 pm in Germany, it was 7 pm in Uganda. During our winter time in Germany there is a tiem differnece of two hours.
The climate of Uganda is different, in the region where I was, it was during my stay 25-35 °C, in January / February it should reach up to 40 °C, in the night it can cool down to 15 °C.
Uganda has about 31 Mil. Inhabitants, which live on about 240.000 squaremeters. The form of the government is semi- presidential republic with the president Museveni.
Export goods are coffee, bananas, cacao, gold, tea, fish and tobaco.
Uganda is affected by seas, the white Nile, virgin forests and savannahs. The Equator goes through the South of Uganda.

~ In Africa it is quite warm, Uganda is close to the Equator, so there is a totally different climate to Germany, how did you get used to it? Was it a problem or not? ~
For sure I had to get used to it, thats why I was so tired on the first days. When I arrived it was about 30-35 °C. From June on we had heavy showers once in a while. From July on we had temperatures between 25-32 °C, the nights and mornings were quite cool. I got used to the climate quite well.

~ What was the biggest difference to Germany in your opinion? ~
That is hard to tell, because you cant really compare those countries.
There is an undescribable poverty and even so the people never complain, they even seem to be satisfied. That seems to be a big difference to Germany, because here everybody is complaining.
Then there is the sense of time, in Uganda everything is slower. Most of the people dont have watches or if you want to use public transportation, you cant tell when you will arrive, only if you leave really early. A bus for example doesnt leave until it is full, so that at least every seat is used, and thats how long you have to wait.

~ I think, the population exists out of many different ethical groups, did you recognize this a lot? Did you see as an outsider differences or was it like on country, like we have the states in Germany which are combined one coutry? ~
At the foster home there stay children from many differnet tribes. Now they stay together very well, which was great work of the home leader. The biggest differences which I recognized are language differences. I am quite sure that there are even more differneces then I recognized. It is already alone from the language barrier that it cant work like in Germyn, to be one coutnry.

~ How do you see the future of this country? ~
That is hard to say how the future of Uganda looks like. There are to many un-securities like the rebells in Northern Uganda and the refugees from neighbour countries.
I really hope, that the people in Uganda will have a better life in the future.

~ How is the culture? What would you say is typical for people in Uganda? ~
Here I only can speak from the regions, where I was. One part of the culture is the African time, which is really extandable. Either you do the same and reach the destination later or you take something with you to bridge the waiting time, e.g. a book. The girls and as well the women kneel infront of respect persons, that is part of the good behaviour, like here to greet.
Then there are some small things:
- Lifting the eye brows means Yes
- Yarning means I am hungry.
- Holding your belly means I feel sick.

~ How were the people? ~
Most of the people were really nice. For sure there are as well people, which ask you indirectly for money. Then there were men, which wanted to have a Mzung-Woman, people with light coloured skin were called Mzungu. They ask for the mobile numbers and when you could meet again, then they want to know if you are already married, because to have a boyfirend doesnt count.
Children at the streets or in villages often say Mzungu, Bye, bye Mzungu or Mzungu how are you?, because they dont see light skinned people that often. Somehow I miss the Mzungu-calling.

~ How were the living circumstances in the village, where you stayed? ~
There are only a few exceptions usually most of the families / people live in 1-2 rooms, the cooking is mostly done outside. You can see trash everywhere, because there is no trash system in place. At the foster home we put the trash into two big holes, once in a while they set fire in the holes. The roads in the village has a lot of pot holes and during and after they have rain those are extremely slobbery.
In Bugembe there are a lot of small shops, tailors, shoemakers, barbers, copy shops and so on, a market, a small supermarket and even a small internet cafe.

~ How did you prepare yourself for those circumstances? ~
I came to Uganda without expectations and just excepted the circumstances I got confronted with. Thats how I could live a happy life there, I was more balanced then I am in Germany.

~ How do you arrange yourself with little water, if you are used to wash and bath yourself permanently? ~
Normally we had enough water at the foster gome, the problem was the very low water pressure, so sometimes e.g. it took for a long time until my hair was wet and rinse of the shampoo. There are even times when there is no water because the pumping system wasnt running proparly. Then you couldnt wash yourself because you needed to safe the water for cooking.
To be without water was an exception at the home, you had to arrange yourself with the situation even if it wasnt comfortable. During my stay we had this situation only once and the water came back after 1,5 days.
I arranged myself with the low water pressure. Like we only flushed the toilette when we had to shit.

~ How are the sanitations? ~
The home leader, the employess and the volunteers used a bathroom. We had a flushing toilette and a bathing room with a small washbasin, a separate tab and a shower head.
The chidlren had two pit latrines and a shower partition, all those are outside, the toilettes have roofs. The children filled buckets with water to shower themselves either in the shower partition or the smaller ones showered in the meadow.

~ How is the food? ~
the volunteers pay extra for food, so that they get better food then the children, because the Ugandan think that the volunteers get sick if they dont have a balanced diet.
The children always have porrigde for breakfast. For lunch and dinner they eat Posho, mush with read beans.
The volunteers eat together with the home leader. Our breakfast varied from white bread, chapati (kind of flat bread), cookies, fruits, omelettes, roasted peanuts to mandazi (sweat biscuits). For lunch and dinner we had additional to posho and beans rice, matoke (plantains), potatoes, baked noodles, seldom we had chicken, fish or beef. Additional to those meals we had tea time, where we had tea and something small to eat, similar to the food at breakast.
Times for the meals of the volunteers:
9-11 am breakfast
1-4 pm lunch
6-8 pm tea time
9-11 pm dinner
The volunteers, the home leader and the older chidlren (which got o university already) eat either ouside at the table on the porch or in the sitting room.
The children eat either on seats like chairs, stools, armchairs in the garage (entrance and reading room) or outside on the porch or in the sitting room, when we are not eating at the same time. If they dont find seats then they will sit on the ground e.g. on the porch.

~ And probably the children there are more hardened then in Germany, right?
~
Yes they are more hardened, because they grew up in very insanitary conditions and as a result of this they have stronger power of resistance than the children in Europe. But that doesnt keep them from diseases.
If the children drink unpurified water, and the water in the foster home which comes from a tab is unpruified, they can get Typhoid. Unfortunately this problem cant be solved at the moment, because there is no cheap possibility to purify the water for all the children, e.g. to boil the water for all children the charcoal is to expensive.
Then they get once in a while Malaria, because they get bitten by mosquitos as well, what they contest. For the nights we bought them mosquito nets, which are not used probably.

~ How does a spoilt person from West Europe gets along with this? ~
I only can speak for myself. I got used to the food quite fast and even like to eat posho and beans yet. I only drank water which I purified with a filter or which I bought in a supermarket.
And as well you pay more attention to sanitary, e.g. to wash hands more often. Against the mosquitos I used insect repellent after sunset, which only helped partly for me. And I always kept my mosquito net around my bed closed even during day and additional I took malaria prophylaxis.

~ Did you have moments where you wanted to break up your stay and to go back home earlier or when you didnt feel safe? ~
Really breaking up wasnt a thought at all, even when I had difficult times as well, but I grew on those times. And you have hard times in every family like in our big El shadai Family inclusive the volunteers.
And except of one or two incidents I always felt safe.
There was one moment, when Heidi (one of the other volunteers in the home from USA) got harassed at Jinja market. There we took the next best opportunity to flee on boda bodas (motorbike taxis).

~ What did you do on a normal working day? ~
Usually I got up at around 7 am and took first a shower. For everything else seldom was one day the same than another one.
Those things did I do with the children:
- Playing
- Drawing
- Helping with homework
- Taking care of sick children
- Taking chidlren to the doctor

Work at the office:
- Typing of documents
- Writing the newsletter for former and future volunteers
- Creating of the finance overviewErstellen der Finanzübersicht
- Meetings with the home leader

Leading of women empowerment groups:
We taught the three women groups the following
- Health topics (like children development, AIDS)
- Business topics (like book keeping, savings)
- Life skills (like setting goals, self esteem)

Then we had two english courses for women, one advanced and one beginners.

~ What did you do in your free time? ~
In my free time i read books or also played with the children, what didnt feel like working time. Sometimes I tried to wash my clothes, most of the times I got replaced by the children, because washing with my hands with the laundry soap wasnt good for my hands, or I helped to make the dishes.
Then I spent time with the other volunteers or with friends from Jinja. Jinja is about 8 kilometers away from Bugembe and is well reachable by bus.
The following could be done in Jinja:
- Using the internet at an internetcafe
- Relax in a bistro
- Stroll through the market or tourist shops
- Visit friends at a radio station
- Going to the post office
- Withdraw money at a bank
Then we used to visit a home for small children (0-6 years) once per week to play with the children. The home is called Welcome Home the children and babies in good hands there, they have really nice carers. We cuddled and carried the babies. Or you could play with the toddlers outside.
Beginning of July we went rafting the first time, it was Rayechels birthday. Rayechel and Heidi were the two other volunteers at El Shadai from USA, they arrived mid of June. We had a lot of fun, even that we had a moment of shock when we flipped. But at the end of the day we confident with our guide Paulo.
After this time we stayed regularly, about one night per week, at the hostel Backpackers of the rafting organisation. There we could get a break of the children and treat ourselves with a hot shower. Thats where we met Joe, he is now a good friend of mine Joe, I miss you!
End of July we took a safari to Murchison Falls Nationalpark for 4 days. That was fantastic and recommend it a lot. We saw a lot of animals, elephants, giraffes, water buffalos, antelopes, a lion and a leopard, crocodiles, hippos, baboons and a lot more.
Then on my birthday ( a couple of days after the safari) we went rafting again with Paulo as our guide. We had a fantastic day on the Nile and I had a wonderful birthday party. Thank you Joe to pick up my cake and for the candles!! And thank you Paulo, that you took care of me the whole evening!!

~ How did a normal day of the children look like? ~
For this I will describe a typical school day.
The chidlren get up between 5-6 am, just like the first one wakes up or I woke them up, if I wake up earlier. Then they clean the floor, because the dust is really penetrant. The school start at around 7 am and some of the children have a longer way to school, they get breakfast at school (at least mostly).
The youngest ones come back at around 1 pm, first they get lunch and then they should take a nap, and when I was around I foced them to sleep.
The other chidlren come back between 4-6 pm (they have lunch at school), then they wash their school uniforms if necessary. Afterwards everyone should bath, before it gets dark at around 7 pm. Then the children which turn it was to cook started to cook and the rest should do their homework or use the time for reading. Then it was time for evening prayers, everyone is dancing and singing and at the end they are praying. Between 9-11 pm it was time for dinner finally and afterwards it was time to go to bed.

~ Did you have doubts during your stay if you do the right thing or were you sure the whole time to do the right thing? ~
I had doubts really seldom, if so it was with single difficult children.
The rest of the time I was sure to do my best and with this even to do the right thing, I did doubt this very seldom.

~ What did you like, what did you liek less? ~
I liked to get a deeper view into the life of the children and the attitude towards life of the natives. I didnt like the partly really depressing poverty and the handling of some people with the street children.

~ What was the most touching moment? ~
That was definitely my funday, which was equivalent with my farewell party.
We played a lot of games and the children showed a lot of studied acts. We had a lot of food for everybody, which I paid for. My Mum even donated some chickens.
Then we had a lot of speeches, which touched me a lot. They told me how much they will miss me and what I mean to them or how I changed their life for good. One girl and one boy spoke for the younger and older ones. Then Issac, the oldest one, hold a speech, Jane, an employee, Heidi (another volunteer of El Shadai), Hilary (a good friend), Stephen (the home leader) and at the end it was my turn. The whole evening I had a lump in my throat and a burdensome feeling in my stomach. ( I have those feelings again now while writing.)

~ Why did you have problems with the food in Germany? You even had pizza in Uganda, what I made me wonder, is this right? ~
I had problems with the food her for the first couple of days. Probably that resulted out of the fact that I was no longer used to the conservatives and flavor enhancers, because in Uganda everything got prepared fresh.
And yes, I had pizza in Uganda, sometimes even a fresh prepared hamburger. That was nothing we had at the foster home, we had to go to Jinja to have those, at the Backpackers or in a restaurant close to Backpackers.

~ Is it hard for you to be back in Germany and go back to work, to have a totally different daily routine again? ~
Yes it is hard to be back in Germamy, even if I missed my family, my boyfriend and my friends. My longing for Uganda got better already but I still miss my second family (El Shadai Family) every day, I took them to my heart and as well all my new friends in Uganda and Heidi.
To get used to work was really hard. I even had problems to work on the computer after a couple of weeks. My neck was paining and I got heavy headaches, thats why I had to stay home in between for 1,5 weeks.

~ Did you wanted to stay longer and / or do you want to travel to Uganda again? ~
Yes to both!!!!!
The farewell was really hard, the children even threatened me with tie me to my bed or to lock me up. They even wrote me really touching letters for my farewell. George 813 years) wrote thank you for the money I gave to him for a light bulb. I would have loved to stay longer, but I knew that my boyfriend and my family waited for me longingly.
I will travel again to Uganda for sure and not only for one time. With my boyfriend I plan to go to Uganda for vacaiton for about 3 weeks in 2009.
I even could imagine a life in Uganda.

~ And now about the future of the El Shadai Home. Did they start already to construct the house on the new compound? ~
Unfortunately the start of the construction needed to be post poned, caused through the wedding of the homeleader (beginning of September 08) the time wasnt there to start with the construction. The start of the construction is planned for 2009, then natives will do the construction. So I cant tell you anything about how the house will look like and what equipment they will have.
There is already a kindergarden on the compound, which will stay there. And on my last day I planted a mango tree on the new compound and hope that it will have fruits in a couple of years so that they will still remember me.
Unfortuantely they dont get any support from the government.

I hope I could answer all your questions, if not please ask me. Sorry that it is such a long report but you just cant describe 3,5 months in only two pages, so now I have written 8 pages.
It was a time I never want to miss and which enriched my life a lot. There is a suitable song of the Wise Guys, a German band, Wir hatten eine gute Zeit (We had a good time), which describes exactly my feelings, which I had at my farewell.
Here is the refrain:
"Das war vielleicht die beste Zeit,
die Zeit meines Lebens,
doch jetzt ist es für mich so weit.
Wir hatten eine gute Zeit."

Translation:
"Perhabs that was the best time,
The time of my life,
But it is the time for me now.
We had a good time.

Best regards
Meike

Here you can see some of my pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/meike3107/Uganda20081#
http://picasaweb.google.com/meike3107/Uganda20082#

Jackie's mother died

meike07 — 2009-03-03T08:25:00Z

Hello together,

today I only have sad news. The mother of Jackie, Emmy, Hannington, Joseph and Immaculate died a week ago.

She had already AIDS when I arrvied in Uganda and was very weak. She recovered during my stay a little bit, so that she could give us, Heidi, Rayechel and myself, lessons in making baskets.
Have a look at this picture:

After I was back in Germany, I got the sad message that she even got tuberculoises.

Her children and the rest of the El Shadai Family still need to recover, in my heart I am with them to give them strength.

I miss all of you, dear El Shadai Family!

Your Auntie Meike

Visitor from Uganda

meike07 — 2009-01-13T15:55:00Z

Hello together,

I never thought that this will happen, but Eddie (from El Shadai Home) visited Germany at the first weekend in January.
He got invited by a Dutch to spend his school holiday in Netherlands and in January they came to Germany.

We spent a great weekend in Nuernberg, thanks to Susanne and Sven!!

It was an unforgetful reunion!

Oh, Eddie brought me again batiks, cards and baskets from Uganda, which I sell on my homepage.

Best wishes
Meike

At a Christmas Market

meike07 — 2008-12-11T09:49:00Z

Hello my friends,

I had a booth on the Christmas Market in Reinheim (Germany) last weekend. I sold Ugandan crafts (batiks, bags, cards, neclaces and clothes) and food (Mandazis and Samosas). Here you can find some pictures of my booth.

Thank you to all buyers and supporters, a special thank to the mayor of Reinheim who generated about a third of the revenues.

I earned about 600 Euros at the weekend, what made me very happy. I informed immeadiately the El Shadai Family.

Best regards
Meike

Blog Action Day

meike07 — 2008-10-15T06:05:00Z

Hello,

a colleague of mine wrote something about my stay and my experiences at El Shadai, because the topic of this Blog Action Day is Poverty.

Please have a look at his blog.

Thank you Darryl!!

Take care,
Meike

My pics are on now!!

meike07 — 2008-08-25T20:44:00Z

Hello together,

a big amount of my pictures are online now.

You can find the pics here:

Part 1

Part 2

Enjoy them!!

Best regards
Meike

I'm back in Germany

meike07 — 2008-08-18T21:02:00Z

Hello together,

since Saturday noon I'm back in Germany.

I arrived safely even with growing pain in my whole body during the flight because of the stress I had the whole week and with saying goodbye to everybody.
It was really hard to say bye to everybody ... but I know that it was not my last visit of Uganda and all my new friends.

EVERYBODY in UGANDA - I REALLY REALLY MISS AND LOVE YOU SO MUCH!!!!!

And for everybody who wants to see my pics from my stay in Uganda here are the links:
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
Murchison Falls National Park
End July / August 2008
My last days

I had a great and wonderful time and don't want to miss this experience and all the people I met.

I don't have any more words at the moments but a big lump in my throat.
Take care!
Meike

Murchison Falls Nationalpark

meike07 — 2008-07-29T08:53:00Z

Hello everyone,

sorry that I again didn't write for a long time, but we had a lot of sick children at home.

And yesterday we just came back from a safari. It was amazing.
We saw a lot of wild animals, like giraffes, elephants, water buffallos, a lion, a leopard, hippos, rhinos, monkeys, crocodiles.

Today we go back to El Shadai and on Thursday, my birthday, we go rafting again and we will have a birthday party in the evening at the place where we sleep after rating.

Thousand hugs
Meike

Another sign of me

meike07 — 2008-06-30T07:42:00Z

Hello together,

sorry that I didn't write for such a long time.

Two new volunteers arrived mid of June and I were occupied in showing them everything here.

I hope you are all fine.

I am ok again. I'm still on medical treatment because I have an infected throat but I feel a lot better again. On Wednesday I take my last treatments and then I should be totally well again.

A lot of greetings from Bugembe
Meike

Pictures online

meike07 — 2008-05-27T12:18:00Z

Hello,

I just uploaded some of my pics. I hope you enjoy them.

I am fine. The 1,5 weeks alone at El Shadai (without other volunteers) was fine. Today the first kids started to go back to school. I think tomorrow the kids which are at boarding school will go back to school too.

On Saturday I will head to Mbale where I visit another project and I'm already very excited to go there.

Take care
Meike

The only one volunteer

meike07 — 2008-05-20T07:39:00Z

Hello,

since Sunday I am the only remaining volunteer. The next volunteer will arrive mid of June.
The last 2 days I organized my room as well as the arts and crafts material which was a lot from all the past volunteers.

In the last days we had some rain so the temperature is cooler now (20-23 degrees Celsius).
I am getting used to the food amd yesterday I got a lot of mangos to eat. *yam*

My best wishes to all of you!!

Greetings from Kampala

meike07 — 2008-05-17T06:58:00Z

Hello together,

I am settled already in the home.

This weekend I am in Kampala, the capital of Uganda, with Amy, another shortterm volunteer.

Today we want to visit the city but at the moment it is raining.

If you want to see a few pictures please check on my German page under "Bilderalben".

Take care
Meike

Greetings from Uganda

meike07 — 2008-05-04T08:12:00Z

I arrived in the night from Wednesday to Thursday at the El Shadai Home.

I feel comfortable now at te home and spent a lot of time with the kids.

Today the current volunteer shows me Jinja. At the moment we are in an internet cafe.

Today I won't have anz pictures because I couldn't transfer them to my laptop, that is because we don't have electricity at the moment, only in the office.

The biggest part of the donations will be used to construct a building on the new land of El Shadai, that hopefully some day they can move there. The other part will be takn to cover the bill for electricity that we have power back again.

Take care,
Meike

I will take off next week!

meike07 — 2008-04-25T06:24:00Z

Hello everyone,

today is my last day at work. On tuesday at noon I will leave my appartment and I will take off on Wednesday at 10:40 am at Brussel.
I will arrive around 10 pm Ugandan time (9 pm German time) and then still need to drive 140 km by car till we arrive at El Shadai Foster Home. I get picked up at the airport in Entebbe (Uganda) by the home father.

I'm already very excited and looking forward to meet everyone at the home.

Best regards (still from Germany)
Meike

Yiipppeeeh!!

meike07 — 2008-04-02T15:13:00Z

Today I got a letter with my own handwriting on it and I couldn't believe it because that only could mean that it is my visa. But I just send my visa application last Thursday. So I opened the envelope right after I got into my appartement. Do you know what it was?

It really is my visa!!

Now nothing can happen anymore that I can't fly in 4 weeks.

I am so excited about the whole trip and I am looking forward to meet everybody at the foster home.

Only 4 weeks to go

meike07 — 2008-04-01T17:48:00Z

Hello together,

on the Easter weekend I received the letter from Stephen (the home father) which shows that I will volunteer at the El Shadai Home. End of last week I sent my visa application form to the consulate.

Then I werre shopping to get stuff like the water filter, mosquito net,... .

And I got the message of Nicola (the responsible coordinator) that I will be the lead volunteer form June on. Nicola is in Jinja right now, so that we will meet there, so she can hand over the tasks to me. I will be responsible for the coordination between the home father and the volunteers and I will write the monthly newsletter for the volunteers. I am very happy about those taks and caused through this I will be more often in the internet café as I would be without those tasks.

Tomorrow in 4 weeks I will almost be in Entebbe. I am really looking forward to meet all the guys at the home.

Best regards
Meike