#blogithome

[kelseysabo]

Meet my neighbor, Fiona. And also, go watch my the video I made! "Highlighting Hospitality in Uganda: Ama Wuro Tualu!" captures the heart of Uganda through the words of my friend, Inizu, sharing about hospitality here. Especially now, his words about Uganda can be taken as a message for our world. -- We are all One. "It doesn't matter if you're rich and I'm poor. It doesn't matter if you're white and I'm black. It doesn't matter if you're Christian and I'm a Muslim." It's better to build a sense of community and compassion instead of large fences and walls. We are all together. Ama wuro tualu. -- [This video was submitted for consideration in the 2017 Peace Corps Week Video Contest, 'Highlighting Hospitality'.] 🌻✌🏽🌍 LINK: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=_qhyzjLfzTQ #peacecorps #pcthirdgoal #howiseepc #blogithome #vscocam #hospitality #uganda #amawurotualu #canon #peacecorpsweek

[kelseysabo]

The farther and longer I travel, the smaller the world gets. A few days ago a Lugbara man confidently approached me and asked me which state I was from. When I responded, "New York," he asked, "The city part or the upstate part?" I was blown away considering most people I meet around the world (and in the states) assume that New York is only a city, haha. I'm shocked that the ear-to-ear smile on my face immediately didn't scare my new friend away but instead he sat down and told me about his experiences in America. How he was sponsored to attend university in a state called "Nebraska" and he felt at home there because "the maize is so abundant." He explained that his school's symbol was the "cornhuskers" and I couldn't contain my excitement any more so I rudely interrupted him to explain that my father from NY and mother from Iowa/Texas went to The SAME university and met there. That I was born and raised a (sometimes) proud Cornhuskers fan and that I couldn't be more excited to meet him. THEN he shared that he moved to "The Windy City" to be a professor and has recently has become a priest. He was impressed by my Lugbara, I was impressed by his story of determination and resiliency, and we both decided that we can each call ourselves "Lugbara-Amerikanis." He thanked me for loving his country and I thanked him for loving mine, we exchanged emails, and cracked a few jokes together. I love the people I meet around this world, the strangers who become friends, and the little pieces of home I find, oftentimes when I need it the most. Thank you, Godfrey, and GO BIG RED! 🏈🌽🌍 #peacecorps #howiseepc #cornhuskers #blogithome #vscocam #mytinyatlas #gobigred #uganda

[kelseysabo]

Many of you may recognize this face as a young man in my SHAPE Club. But what you aren't familiar with, perhaps, is his story. I first noticed this boy when he peered through the windows of our first SHAPE Club meetings, shy but smiling & laughing along with us. Yet when he was invited in to join us several times, he would politely refuse. Weeks passed & eventually he decided to participate in the first Platform 503 (my secondary project, a hip-hop group) and SHAPE Club partnership about leadership, confidence, & public speaking - taught through poetry, rap, and dance. I slowly saw this P6 boy shed his layers of fear & insecurity as he came after club meetings & on the weekend to ask more questions/practice his English. Year 2 rolls around and in our first name game activity, this guy runs into the center and declares that he goes by, "Young MC" now because he will be a famous tv & radio presenter one day, and maybe even "a rapper in his extra time." From then on, Young MC has attended trainings & camps with me and man, he is quite the businessman. And a creative one at that. It's been an honor to watch him sprout his MC wings from P6 to secondary school and I'm a proud mama to call him a man now. A "man" not because he's 2yrs older now, but because he always advocates for an equal, safe space in our club (and even shouted at a boy who said a girl should sweep, "You think because you have a penis you cannot hold a broom? Are you serious?"🤗). And because he believed Sharon should be president over him because she "deserves it more." And because he made his mom and me beautiful necklaces for Christmas which both she and I love. And because he's a great, honest treasurer who has kept a perfect Cash Book for the club profits. And most of all, because he's saving all of his money so that he can go to school & follow his dreams. This young man makes me not only proud for Uganda but for the youth of this continent and the entire world. Our future lies in your hands (& it's looking bright, my friend)! You go, Young MC. #peacecorps #swag #uganda #howiseepc #blogithome #peacecorpsthirdgoal #vscocam #mytinyatlas #year3

[kelseysabo]

The most photogenic lil peanut you ever did see, Edgar. Also, he was laughing because he farted... #peacecorps #howiseepc #bff #blogithome #canon #vscocam #mytinyatlas #uganda #cheesinghard

[kelseysabo]

Meet my neighbors and 1st friends in the village: Dicky, Ellie, & Morrish. These 3 brothers spend most of their day taking the goats to graze and stabbing holes into the dry earth with sticks. Sometimes they let me join in the fun. They speak Alur & I speak English but somehow we get by with broken Lugbara and fluent laughter. #peacecorps #vscocam #blogithome #canon #year3 #howiseepc #uganda

[kelseysabo]

January 15th, 2017: New year, new site, new school, new start Day 1 at my new site! I'm happy to say I got back to Arua a-okay and that all by belongings made it with me. Last night was my first night in my new house, on my new compound, in my new bed and despite the lack of bedsheets, mosquito nets, food, water, and padlocks, I couldn't be any more excited for this new journey. The last two years have treated me well and this year will be even better. School starts on the 6th of Feb and I'll be settling into my new home and somehow-new community until then. I'll miss the heck outta Danny, Edgar, and my nugget neighbors and possibly even the blaring music from the bar across the street but I'm overjoyed at the thought of making another home here in Uganda with the comfort of speaking the language and knowing the town still. My service at site is prettttttty awful but heres a few pics from my first day back. I definitely took my automated coffee machine at home for granted! But when you have to light a fire and wait for water to boil, the coffee tastes a whole lot better. And here are Majid and Geoffrey, two watchmen at my school. They were super stoked about these snaps - and laughed at me everytime I spoke Lugbarati. I love this place.

[kelseysabo]

Two years ago, Edgar would fearfully shriek and cry at the mere opening of my door or sight of me. Two years later, he squeaked "Kelseyyy!!" as he sprinted and damn near tackled me to the crowd after being apart for a month. I love you, little buddy & it feels so good to be back with my family😊🌻🌍 #peacecorps #uganda #howiseepc #canon #vscocam #mytinyatlas #blogithome

[kelseysabo]

The word "sustainability" is thrown around in the Peace Corps and development world about as much as "mundu" (the word for White) is shouted at me when I meander through town. For those who don't know, this essentially means we try to make sure the projects we do can keep going on effectively even after we leave our sites, the country, etc. This sounds so much easier than it actually is, let me tell you. Anywho, I was the happiest little girl ever yesterday when I went to meet with my SHAPE Club only to find out that they have been meeting everyday while I've been gone. And by "meeting" I mean they come to club every day for over seven hours! They've found new members who are out of school and they've trained them in how to make the beads and jewelry. They've decorated the walls of our new room with a whole lot of SHAPE Club love graffiti. They've made over 40 awesome necklaces in less than a month and I feel like the proudest mother hen right now. They even pooled their money together to try to buy international minutes and call me when one of our member's father died. And, after our conversation about how his passing meant she can't go to secondary school, that very member was overjoyed to find out I had sold some of their previous necklaces in the states and she CAN afford to go to school now after they all met and decided how to utilize their earnings. SHAPE Club, once a solely health education club, has become a self-governing group of badass kids making cool crafts and running their own business & VSLA essentially. I couldn't be happier to be back with these young men and women (and to announce we have a female presidente now!) and I look forward to seeing all we can do together this year, too. Love this place, love these kids, love this life.🌻🌍🤗 #peacecorps #vscocam #howiseepc #mytinyatlas #uganda #canon #blogithome

[kelseysabo]

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A post shared by 𖤓Kelsey Ayikoru Sabo𖤓 (@kelseysabo)

Now Featuring: TIPPY TAPS! -- This last week was busier than ever with several big projects underway and my finalized schedule between nursery, P1 and P2 reading classes keeping me busy. Before the school year started parents, pupils, and teachers all identified that "sanitation & hygiene" was a concern of theirs for our school so we wasted no time in getting these easy, locally-made, and very inexpensive (about $1 each) hand-washing stations made across the compound. Plus, with the water scarcity problems we're having, these actually save water while washing because it is all completely controlled by a lever at your foot. These "Tippy Taps" at the school also came with a fun hand-washing workshop for the teachers & all the school staff, assembly talks for all the kids, and class "field trips" to the tippy-taps with demos led by teachers. Now, if you listen close enough you will hear kids and teachers humming the "Happy Birthday" song to themselves as they wash away. Every day this week teachers helped out at the Tippy Taps to make sure everyone was understanding and Teacher Betty here killed it in the Nursery. You might have thought teaching 3, 4, and 5 year olds proper hand-washing was impossible (or maybe only I did) but rest assured, these kids are crushing it. Some parents even came to see what this contraption was their kids were telling them about and one father told me he set one up at his house that night! Happy hands, happy hearts!! 🤗🌍🙌🏽 #peacecorps #uganda #vscocam #mytinyatlas #blogithome #tippytap #savewater #hygiene #canon #handwashing