Day 1: Eye Camp

And this is why I'm here. It's like a full blown reset of life. Travel seeps into my blood and reminds me why I live.
This morning I awoke to a stunning sunset of which pictures cannot begin to capture the layers and depth of that sunset.
Proof brought us all some sweet sunglasses and then we loaded into the three vans.
On our journey we passed a marathon and got out and cheered on the runners.
Next stop was the market for some breakfast: Rolex. Ha some kind of tortilla filled with fried egg. Reminded me of the one we ate in china.
Our group is 25 strong full of both Proof and HELP and two Instagram famous photographers who have stunning work which I've followed and loved.
We are currently in the vans on the way to an eye camp.
we have three native Ugandans in our van and we are learning so much.
Moses is telling us about how when women got pregnant before marriage were pushed off cliffs by their brothers. He told us about the murders and crooked cops. One time he was pulled over and charged for murder because there was a dead bird in his grill. Literally had to pay them a fee.
We are learning about the economy and the rich and poor. About how there is a lack of savings.
oh man! I'm in the bus and I just saw a family of a woman and kids carrying water. I wish I had a picture this is exactly what I need to bring back to my student's.
What is great now is he is talking about how the whites come in with hand outs and it doesn't help because if you bring rice, when the rice runs out, you are still hungry. But if you teach self reliance and how to grow the food, they are not hungry. That's one thing I like about HELP, they do sustainable projects that empower people to do it themselves and teach instead of give.

I just saw the well. As we've been driving I continued to see people walking with their yello water jugs. Some on bikes, others carrying them. Then at the center of the village was the well with dozens of people waiting to fill their jugs. I wish I could have taken a picture of that but I will try. This is such an incredible experience. Go read A Long Walk To Water.

What a fulfilling day. We arrived at the school and hundreds of Ugandans were already there.
The process was to check them in, give a basic eye test, see the Dr., then visit the prescription and glasses room.
I started in the eye test station. Many do not know how to read so we have directional tests.

After we finished with this I switched over to help in the 'pharmacy'

The people waited hours and hours many of whom just needed reading glasses. Those kind you can buy at Target for $3. Others needed vitamin A, eye drops, and other creams.
We had our first Ugandan lunch which is very similar to Fiji.

The school classrooms were also very similar to Fiji:

Very basic, tons of recycled materials. Simple desks, dirt floors, no windows. If only our kids knew just got great they have it.

But everyone here is so happy. Simple life. Simple pleasures.

By the way, let's just acknowledge that we know what I look like in America and forgive everything that happens to me here in this heat and humidity.
Required dress code: skirts and shirts. Pants and collared shirts for men. The people here are very modest which is nice.
The roads are crazy.

Then there was the one time I had to pee. Luckily, due to the mass amount of sweating this doesn't happen often but that... that right there was special.