The Miracle in Seya

08 August 2012

On Wednesday 08 April 2012, we had the opening ceremony for the school in Seya. As is usually the case here in Uganda, people started showing up about an hour after the advertised start time.

The fact that a school is standing on that plot of land is a miracle in so many ways. The head builders and citizens of Seya were up till after 4:30am pouring cement in the rooms, without any lights. (The day before I helped with concrete. Mixing everything by hand and then moving it into the rooms one wheelbarrow at a time was extremely tiring and took a lot of time. I cannot imaging how tired they must have been.)

The new school complete with yellow ribbon/bow in the front.

People gathering in the former school to start the ceremony. Pastor Francis (the MC) leading the ceremony. 

Seya school students performing for us. I love these kids. They are my friends. 

Elijah leading in his part of the song. I've talked about him before. This little guy walks around five-six miles every day to get to school. Then, after a full day of school, (which has involved heavy labor for the last few months) he walks back home. He is one of several kids who always comes and works along side me. We have had a lot of fun teasing each other/playing around during work.

During the program, Pastor Francis had all of us Americans come up and sing a song. (we scrambled and ultimately decided on "row row row your boat")Then he made the parents (PTA) come and perform a song  . They were awesome. The people here are such fun/amazing people. They go through so much. I found out recently that several of these adults whom I have become friends with are HIV positive and their kids (also my friends) are likely to be orphans in the upcoming years. Thanks to pastor Josiah, so many orphans here have a chance in life. They deserve this school  I'm so grateful I could be a part of this. 

The man next to Pastor Francis was a government representative. He had many great things to say. Not the least of which was that he is going to move the application papers through to get some government-trained teachers to Seya and help them get funding. 

The kids performing again. These four pictured here are among my favorites. 

The pastors: Francis (on the left) and Josiah (on the right). Josiah was looking pretty good for having poured concrete all night and then woken up super early to set up for this event. Without Josiah in this community, there would be a lot of kids without a chance in the world. He is my hero in so many ways. 

Just before the ribbon cutting. 

A look at the section where the kids were sitting. The boy in the front left (with his legs crossed is probably my favorite of the boys. Pius is his name. I call him Pius the Powerful. We worked/played a lot this summer. He's such a funny/fun kid. We kept making faces at each other during the event. 

Here's Pius trying to look serious.

I gave a speech soon before the ribbon cutting. It was really cool to be able to address all of the people I have grown to love.  More than just brick and mortar, this school is a physical reminder to each one of them that they matter. That they are good enough to deserve a school in which they can learn. 

Preparing to cut the ribbon

The ribbon cutting followed by the dedicatory prayer

Some of my buddies posing in front of their new school.

They Seya School Team. 

Front Row: Josiah, Annet

Middle Row: Trevor Montgomery, Troy Hoppenjan, Ashlyn Jorgensen, Me, Lexi Jorgensen, Kristen Rees

After the ribbon cutting, we served sodas and snacks to the adults and juice drinks and snacks to the kids. 

Lane with Anett/Josiah and their kids (Danny, Debra, and Jeremiah) posing in front of the school which was completed only hours earlier. 

This time smile for the camera

Lane (they know me as "Sechikuubo" with Pius (in red school uniform) and some the other favorites

Lane, Pius, Lilian, and ( I don't know her name)

Salute to Homemade Toys and Seya

Friday 03 August 2012

This hot rod was made from an old plastic vodka bottle, bottle caps and toothpicks. Keep on racin' girl. 

Compacting the ground in the school. Getting ready to pour concrete

The almost finished roof. 

These guys were playing "cars" in the dirt with little pieces of wood. There is an assortment of "vehicles" on the platform (left hand side of the picture). The great thing is, you can make roads anywhere in the dirt. I used to do this with neighborhood buddies. Kyle Gardner, this post is for you. And for the little dudes pictured above. Play on.... and may you never be too old to enjoy playing in the dirt. 

More Building in Seya and Walking Home

Sometime between Monday 30 July and Friday 03 August

With the opening ceremony date of 08 August, we have been in a time crunch to put the roof on and fill the rooms with concrete. The builders here are amazing. They make whatever materials they need with supplies available. The trusses are made on site out of boards. Even the 2x4s are cut from 2x8s. I've been amazed many times with the ingenuity of these builders. And the really cool thing is that in most construction jobs I've had, I get yelled at for doing things wrong. Here, they only praise me for working hard like them and for being strong. These guys deserve all the praise.

Notice the stack of trusses. They build them one by one while standing up on the roof. 

Raising a board to use on another truss. 

I really wish my camera did a better job capturing colors. The background greens (especially far in the distance) are amazing. This picture makes them look like fog is in the distance. I love the custom made ladders. 

Me posing with two of pastor Josiah's kids. Debra and Jeremiah (for the longest time I thought Jeremiah was a girl because he was always in dresses. 

Lexi posing with Debra and Jeremiah. 

Putting a truss in to place and raising it. 

From inside the classroom. Pastor Josiah and Annete standing in the classroom. 

Workin hard. (they asked me if I wanted to help from up above, they teased me a bit for being scared to go up there but I don't even mind. I really don't like walking around up that high. I'd rather something fall on me than for me to be the one doing the falling)

Making progress

Almost there

Most days, after finishing work, I go up to the road that runs through Seya and wait for a motorcycle taxi (anywhere from 1.5 minutes to 1.5 hours) These kids came by with their cow and wanted a picture. 

More kids with devil-eyed cow peering into my soul. 

More kids gathering for picture time

This guy was a bit drunk on banana beer and also came by wanting a picture. 

The Next Day

After working at Seya the following day, I decided not to wait around for a motorcycle taxi but to just walk home. (It is about 5-6 miles or so. Some of the kids walk that distance twice a day to and from school so I figured I would start doing it to see what it's like.) I have since had some fun experiences walking from Seya. Here are some pictures from my walk home that first time. 

This little guy was carrying a bundle of sticks to use for cooking. Some kids walk 5 miles or more just to get fuel for cooking. It was a pretty heavy bundle of sticks. Hopefully pictures like this will help me to not complain later in life if I ever get upset that my stove/utilities are not working. I wish this blog could even scratch the surface of what most people here have to go through just to survive. 

Further on the path, we met up with a few other kids. I thought this little kitchen-in-the-works was cool. After putting rocks in the walls, they will put mud all over which will dry to form closed walls. 

My friend with the sticks posing in front of his house. 

Once again, kids are all smiles and laughs until you push the button on the camera. 

Note to self, next time you go to Africa, bring an awesome camera. This picture does absolutely no justice to  the landscape between Lugazi and Seya village. 

Another narrow path in a distant place. Turn right at the intersection ahead then about 3.5 more miles to Lugazi.

This little guy was just sitting by the irrigation drainage along the road. It was kind of out in the middle of nowhere. He looked like he needed a bag of peanuts a lot more than I did. 

This is "the source" for a village on the way. This is how most people get water. Bring all the jerry cans you can carry and carry them home every day. 

Here is another juncture. You can either go left or right. Both roads lead through different sugar cane fields back to Lugazi. 

On the way, I came across this woman who flagged down a boy on a bicycle to get a ride in to town. 

If only I fit on the handlebars:-(

Another stretch of road. Sugarcane field on the right, tree farm on the right. 

A heavy traffic day on the road from Seya to Lugazi. More friendly riders on the family SUV. 

It's early evening time on the outskirts of Lugazi. People are going to the nearest source to take water home. It still blows me away how people can carry heavy items on their heads without spilling. 

Pausing in their trek to the source to take a picture with Lane the Muzungu. 

I really like this picture. This little guy also stopped with his cans of water to have his picture taken.

The slums on the outskirts of Nakazadde Village. Lugazi Uganda. It's funny to see people's reactions when I walk in to town. Confused, they wave and ask each other why the white guy is walking. 

Neighborhood girls. Right after I took this picture and showed it to them, the all fell down together on the grass laughing. They get a kick out of seeing their picture. 

Walking into Lugazi. Wednesday is market day where lots of people are selling clothes and other items on this street that leads out of town to the sugarcane fields and on to Seya.