About Taylor Jackson

Cell phone service is really better outside the house, so on Monday evening I headed outside and I really couldn’t believe what was going on.
There was a group of girls that live in the same compound as myself, all huddled around a tree, heads down. I thought at first they were Muslim as many people are here and since I don’t know much about the religion I thought they were praying because I do know most Muslims pray many times a day. I asked one of the girls who wasn’t involved what was going on and she said “Satan [...]

I’m sorry I haven’t updated in so long, I never had a chance after the Safari on Sunday and when I headed back out to Ntenjeru on Monday morning.
Safari was amazing! I really enjoyed it so much more than I thought I would, the guide let us get out and walk with a heard of 50 giraffes, I counted. We also got out near the river and saw hippos bathing and got really close to elephants, the Ugandan crane which is such a pretty bird and antelope and warthogs and the pictures are just great.
This week in the [...]

The village is just gorgeous! Its quiet no trucks going by all night and the project I have switched into is just amazing! I live at “The White House” and it is really cute it was built completely by donated money and volunteers. In the same complex there are about 15 sponsored orphans, who are all in high school so they are all really interesting to talk to and a peace core volunteer named Zach He is really cool and it’s nice to have someone from the west to live with way out in the village. There are also some [...]

These last two days have been nice and a good way to finish working with the Youth League. Yesterday I headed out to Seeta (Say-Tah) where Maria lives, I have paid for all the materials in which to finish her latrine and kitchen and as I left the latrine was finished and the roof was all that needed to be put into place. I also brought out some clothes, my sleeping bag and shoes for the family which they were so grateful for. I will be back to visit her I think one more time before I leave. She told [...]

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This weekend was so fun. On Friday, Ara, Sarah and I headed into Kampala for a volleyball match, Mukono vs. Kampala. We really thought it would just be a fun, non-competitive day but we were wrong. It rained really hard right before the game so we were playing in half a [...]

This week has been definitely the busiest since I got here. Today is Independence Day in Uganda though so I have a bit of a chance to relax even though I still have tons to do today and update the journal and what not.
On Monday Ben, Kiierya, and I headed out to an HIV clinic in Nagalama. It was mostly just a meeting we didn’t get to do too much on site. But the Youth League has set up a partnership with the clinic in which they will occupy an extra room at the clinic (which we take control over [...]

Today I headed out with Julia one of the other volunteers that lives in the guesthouse to the outskirts of Mukono Town to the project she is working at. The Elizabeth House is just the most amazing project. It is a home and school for mentally and physically disabled kids; it was started by David and Val who both came to visit the school today. They I think are from Australia and raised the money to build the run the school through their church.
Each kid has quite the story and I took tons of pictures that I can’t wait to [...]

Yesterday I was home from work early and no one else was home. I really didn’t want to hang out alone so I went down the street a bit from where I live and introduced myself to the ladies who make mats by the road and sell them.
Prossie who is about 25 and been making mats since she was in primary school took a bit of a liking to me and now she is my self-appointed mat-making teacher. I learned the basics and gave them some shillings to buy some materials to make my own mat!
Prossie’s English is surprisingly good [...]

This past weekend was absolutely amazing! Friday I went to school as usual taught some english and science. Kids were good I taught them the difference between were and was and we did some journal writting. Creative thinking is not really taught in the schools and kids really just copy what the teacher puts on the board. It is really an effort to get them to ask questions when they don’t understand but its getting better.
After school a bunch of volunteers (9 of us actually) headed down to Kampala for a goodbye dinner for Amy. We stayed at a backpackers [...]

Yesterday’s outreach was quite something. It was only a five minute taxi ride, but then we were on boda bodas (basically dirt bikes) for almost half and hour to get out to the Nyansi village.
            I had thought we were going to actually build the mud-hut kitchen, but we actually had gone to evaluate how much it would cost to build a new latrine (bathroom, but really a hole in the ground) and a basic outdoor kitchen for Maria. Maria is 75 and albino, everyone in the neighbourhood calls her a mzungu (white person) because she is so white. [...]

Yesterday was beautiful. Kierya, the director of my program asked me to update the Youth League’s website which is www.youthleagueorganisation.blogspot.com there are a few pictures and information if you’re interested in exactly what I am doing here. That was a bit of a drag though because the internet was slow and I was originally planning on teaching.
 
            The rest of the day was much better. I went one a walk with Calandra, another volunteer who is working with MACRO (Mukono Aids Control and Recovery Organization, I think) anyways we were planning on walking up this mountain in Mukono that [...]

I’m sorry it’s almost been a whole week since I updated the journal. Things really haven’t been crazy busy and I should have done it earlier.
This week I started at Divine Mercy Primary, not all the kids were back at school yet, they really all didn’t trickle in until Friday. All the volunteers here joke about Africian and Muzongu timing. Here nothing happens on time. Everyone takes their time doing everything, teachers take long breaks in the middle of lessons, people don’t show up for meetings until late, and it is socially acceptable. No one is in a rush to do anything. [...]

I am finally here in Uganda! I arrived yesterday at about 2:00 and stayed with another volunteer Calandra at a hostel until Leslie picked me up this morning and we headed for the guest house in Mukono. It is so tropical, very different than home! The roads are red, there are no traffic lights anywhere people are crazy drivers, Everyone takes taxis which are like minivans but the public transit here or boda bodas which are motorcycles you sit on the back of. I can’t wait to ride one!
I am volunteering with the Youth League but I am not [...]

27 hours until take off