I just put up two more videos last night. You can find them at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqNJRIvtVCo. They are called Jeff Howell's Fields of Growth Video Blog (1, 2, and 3). Please watch them and spread the word!
Peace,
Jeff
Monday, September 13, 2010
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
VIDEO POSTED
Hey Everyone,
so the video I made in honor of my trip to Uganda is posted on Fields of Growth Internationals Youtube page (at least part of it). The link is http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ukge5LSparM
Email me at jthowell89@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments!
Thanks,
Jeff
Thursday, September 2, 2010
Fall Semester
These past two weeks have been crazy, to say the least.
I returned to school at Mount Saint Mary's University for my final year. Uh oh. The first week of classes were absolute chaos and consisted of me running around simply trying to get signatures for adds and drops.
However, at the end of the week I had a meeting with President Powell in which we spoke of the trip to Uganda and shared stories. The meeting went as good as it could have. I showed Dr. Powell the video which I created in memory of our trip and he seemed to thoroughly enjoy seeing the pictures and videos of the connections we made while on our trip.
We also spoke of the future and my possible trip back to Kkidnu and Uganda next summer. He was fully supportive of the trip and is willing to work with me on fund-raising and whatnot to make it happen.
After riding such a high from President Powell's meeting, I received an email from Kevin Dugan sharing the news of the new assistant women's lacrosse coach here at the Mount being thoroughly interested in helping with Fields Of Growth (www.fieldsofgrowth.org). This brought my excitement to yet another high. Next week I hope to meet with her and discuss possible plans.
Feel free to email me about the project at jthowell89@gmail.com
Peace
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
Life in Uganda
Hello everyone
Sorry for not having updating this blog at all. I thought we would have more internet available, but of course not.
Will and I safely arrived and met up at JFK airport to hop on our 6.5 hour plane ride to Amsterdam. However, our plane was delayed for nearly 2 hours turning the trip into an almost 9 hour trip. We thought that would be our bump in the road, but of course something else had to happen. We arrived in Amsterdam and wandered around the airport for a little bit until we got on our second airplane, an 8 hour flight to Entebbe. However, a little more than 10minutes after take off we hear loud noises coming from the engine on our side of the plane. The captain came on to announce that our plane had ate a bird and that they had made the executive decision to turn around and land the plane. Thank God he landed the plane because soon after we were informed that our engine had died and was completely unable to work. Will and I got excited thinking that we may be able to spend the night in Amsterdam and see the city; however, they had found another plane for us to take. Nearly three hours later we were back in the air and on our way to Entebbe. We landed at around midnight or 12:30, met Brown who is basically our tour guide for the whole trip. We stayed up until after 2 in the morning talking to Brown and sharing stories.
The next morning we woke up and took a Matatu which is a public taxi service into the taxi park in Kampala. Here we wandered about in the chaos of 10's of thousands of buses trying to find customers and hopped onto a boda-boda, a motorcycle taxi, and went to a school in the slums of Kampala. At the school we went into several classrooms where the students would rise and spoke in unison to greet us. After visiting the classes we played some frisbee and soccer outside of the school and gave out some Jolly Ranchers. The kids were absolutely wonderful and have given us many things which they wish to have in future days.
We left the school to go deeper into Kampala to exchange our money and pick up Alfred, the blind guitar player who would play for us later that night. We then headed to the airport to pick up Jake and Joel, two lacrosse players who would be with us for the trip. With a starving group of Americans in the taxi we decided to go down to Lake Victoria where we feated on some fresh fried fish and chips. Absolutely delicious. We then went back to the Bethany house, where we spent the first two nights, to meet back up with Alfred who would play some music for us.
After our first two nights in Kampala we headed to Kkindu in the Masaka district where we would meet up with Kerry and Mara, two girls who had been in the country for about a month before us. We met at a small restaurant owned by an American and where all the profit is used to help children with AIDS. At lunch we also met with Father Emmy and John Kakande who live and work in Kkindu. Kakande is the leader of the HOPEFUL Uganda organization who we have worked with. After the delicious meal we headed out to Kkindu we met many of the children and got our bearings of the town. During this time many of the children would run at us yelling "Mzungu! Mzungu!"which is the term for a white person here (not degrading at all), we would find this to be a very common act we must get used to.
Our second day in Kkindu was a very special one. They had cancelled school and stopped all activities for the day to welcome us to the community. It began with a mass where we were asked to stand in front of the whole community and introduce ourselves and greet the community, this is another action we had to become very comfortable doing very quickly. After mass we visited the Fields of Growth office to organize all the donations. We were then quickly asked to return back to the church for the celebration to begin. Upon entering the church there arised a clapping rythym from the children. We watched many songs and dances before retiring to Father Emmy's office where we awaited food and our "tests"of the trip. Father Emmy decided to call all beers "tests"and that we had to finish at least two tests during lunch. The lunch was a feast of matooke (mashed plantains), rice, cabbage, and beef. It was a huge honor to receive beefs as the people here rarely eat meat because of the price. After our lunch we were invited to watch a skit to teach the children the importance of education and avoiding the dance clubs here. The rest of the day was full of getting to know individuals and getting to know eachother.
After our short stay in Kkindu we traveled into Masaka town to get on our bus ride to the southwest of Uganda, Bwindi. We were told the bus ride would take anywhere from 6-12 hours. Of course it took 10.5 hours with very little leg room, but hey, I'm in Africa :). Towards the end of the bus ride we traveled along a winding road down a valley which looked absolutely beautiful and pictures cannot do justice to it. Pictures will be posted upond arrival back home. We arrived in Bwindi after dark and made our way to the Upper Lodge where we met Gino our incredible chef. Our lodge was within footsteps of the entrance to the Bwindi Impenetrable Rainforest and we have a spectacular view of the forest from the deck of our lodge. Again, pictures will be posted.
The first full day we spent in Bwindi we traveled to the Church and school location where the field we raised money for the football pitch. We went to church in the morning, where once again we were forced to sit in the front of the crowd and introduce ourselves. And of coursed we decided to join in the dancing to celebrate the collections, videos will follow this one! For those who were unable to give monetary donations for the church, they would give jackfruit or cassava or beans. After mass these foods would be auctioned off to gain money for the church. We decided to join in the fun and buy a jackfruit for 20,000 shillings. After mass, we were invited to the local football match against two neighboring villages. The location was at the field which we had raised money to redo. Upon arrival at the football match, I was told I was the "guest of honor"and was requested to sit in chairs brought onto the hillside for all of us myzungus or byzungu to sit in. We decided shortly after arriving that we would give our seats up and sit on the grass with the children. My favorite part of the match was everytime the home team would score, the fans would rush the fields and the women and children at the ends of the field would play music, dance, and sing. It was absolutely amazing. Following the match Will and I went back to the Batwamobile (the van which has been driving us around in Bwindi) to gather the jerseys, soccer balls and footballs we had brought to hand over to the people of the town. The jerseys went to the community's team to be used when they travel to show off their talents. Two soccer balls went to each of the teams who played and one went to the women's team. The two footballs went to the primary and secondary school in the village. Seeing the adults and children sprinting around the field playing in their newly acquired sports equipment was amazing. we decided to join in, show them how to throw the american football and played with the children, chasing them around and sharing smiles. We were sad to leave the field, but the children gave us a warm goodbye by chasing our van out and jumping on the back bumper yelling for us to wave to them. Truly amazing.
On our second day in Bwindi we went to the Batwa Cultural Center for the pygmy people who were forced from the rainforest and taken in by the land of Scott Kellermann of Kellermann foundations. We climbed to the top of the mountain where we were taught traditional dances, shown the traditional way of life, and even got to try our hand in some basic hunting practices. We also met the chief of the group who I do not even know how to describe but a video will be posted. She haunts my dreams. As we were leaving the cultural center a huge storm rolled in and we were poured on as we climbed down the mountain soaking wet. I had grabbed a banana leaf to cover my head as we shifted down the mountain. This only worked for a little bit before we decided to run to our van. As we ran past the schools kids would come out of their classrooms laughing at us and yelling "myzungu!" Good times.
We got out of the rain and to the van back to our lodge where we showered in freezing cold rainwater. After getting all cleaned up, Joseph Safari, a leader with the Batwa Development Program ran to us sharing information that he knew where a family of gorillas were. We quickly gathered our stuff and hurried to the location. Upond arrival we saw one sitting in the tree and heard rustling behind a couple houses so we decided to travel behind the houses and spot the gorillas. We were all in pure awe of the beasts which walked past us, only 10 feet in front of us. Pictures will be posted. We saw nearly 10 gorillas, one silverback, and one baby. Absolutely amazing. However, armed guards apparently saw us and not very kindly asked us to leave. We decided to pay them 50,000 shillings to keep their mouths closed about all of it. I do not even know how to describe the event. Most people pay 500 USD to trek the gorillas, we paid 5.
Today, after our high of gorillas viewing, travelled to a Batwa development location to mud a house for a family to move into. Basically it consisted of us piling mud up between walls of bamboo. Pictures will follow this too. However, now it is time to go shower and go back to the site where we previously saw the gorillas, hoping to see them again!
Peace,
Jeff
Sorry for not having updating this blog at all. I thought we would have more internet available, but of course not.
Will and I safely arrived and met up at JFK airport to hop on our 6.5 hour plane ride to Amsterdam. However, our plane was delayed for nearly 2 hours turning the trip into an almost 9 hour trip. We thought that would be our bump in the road, but of course something else had to happen. We arrived in Amsterdam and wandered around the airport for a little bit until we got on our second airplane, an 8 hour flight to Entebbe. However, a little more than 10minutes after take off we hear loud noises coming from the engine on our side of the plane. The captain came on to announce that our plane had ate a bird and that they had made the executive decision to turn around and land the plane. Thank God he landed the plane because soon after we were informed that our engine had died and was completely unable to work. Will and I got excited thinking that we may be able to spend the night in Amsterdam and see the city; however, they had found another plane for us to take. Nearly three hours later we were back in the air and on our way to Entebbe. We landed at around midnight or 12:30, met Brown who is basically our tour guide for the whole trip. We stayed up until after 2 in the morning talking to Brown and sharing stories.
The next morning we woke up and took a Matatu which is a public taxi service into the taxi park in Kampala. Here we wandered about in the chaos of 10's of thousands of buses trying to find customers and hopped onto a boda-boda, a motorcycle taxi, and went to a school in the slums of Kampala. At the school we went into several classrooms where the students would rise and spoke in unison to greet us. After visiting the classes we played some frisbee and soccer outside of the school and gave out some Jolly Ranchers. The kids were absolutely wonderful and have given us many things which they wish to have in future days.
We left the school to go deeper into Kampala to exchange our money and pick up Alfred, the blind guitar player who would play for us later that night. We then headed to the airport to pick up Jake and Joel, two lacrosse players who would be with us for the trip. With a starving group of Americans in the taxi we decided to go down to Lake Victoria where we feated on some fresh fried fish and chips. Absolutely delicious. We then went back to the Bethany house, where we spent the first two nights, to meet back up with Alfred who would play some music for us.
After our first two nights in Kampala we headed to Kkindu in the Masaka district where we would meet up with Kerry and Mara, two girls who had been in the country for about a month before us. We met at a small restaurant owned by an American and where all the profit is used to help children with AIDS. At lunch we also met with Father Emmy and John Kakande who live and work in Kkindu. Kakande is the leader of the HOPEFUL Uganda organization who we have worked with. After the delicious meal we headed out to Kkindu we met many of the children and got our bearings of the town. During this time many of the children would run at us yelling "Mzungu! Mzungu!"which is the term for a white person here (not degrading at all), we would find this to be a very common act we must get used to.
Our second day in Kkindu was a very special one. They had cancelled school and stopped all activities for the day to welcome us to the community. It began with a mass where we were asked to stand in front of the whole community and introduce ourselves and greet the community, this is another action we had to become very comfortable doing very quickly. After mass we visited the Fields of Growth office to organize all the donations. We were then quickly asked to return back to the church for the celebration to begin. Upon entering the church there arised a clapping rythym from the children. We watched many songs and dances before retiring to Father Emmy's office where we awaited food and our "tests"of the trip. Father Emmy decided to call all beers "tests"and that we had to finish at least two tests during lunch. The lunch was a feast of matooke (mashed plantains), rice, cabbage, and beef. It was a huge honor to receive beefs as the people here rarely eat meat because of the price. After our lunch we were invited to watch a skit to teach the children the importance of education and avoiding the dance clubs here. The rest of the day was full of getting to know individuals and getting to know eachother.
After our short stay in Kkindu we traveled into Masaka town to get on our bus ride to the southwest of Uganda, Bwindi. We were told the bus ride would take anywhere from 6-12 hours. Of course it took 10.5 hours with very little leg room, but hey, I'm in Africa :). Towards the end of the bus ride we traveled along a winding road down a valley which looked absolutely beautiful and pictures cannot do justice to it. Pictures will be posted upond arrival back home. We arrived in Bwindi after dark and made our way to the Upper Lodge where we met Gino our incredible chef. Our lodge was within footsteps of the entrance to the Bwindi Impenetrable Rainforest and we have a spectacular view of the forest from the deck of our lodge. Again, pictures will be posted.
The first full day we spent in Bwindi we traveled to the Church and school location where the field we raised money for the football pitch. We went to church in the morning, where once again we were forced to sit in the front of the crowd and introduce ourselves. And of coursed we decided to join in the dancing to celebrate the collections, videos will follow this one! For those who were unable to give monetary donations for the church, they would give jackfruit or cassava or beans. After mass these foods would be auctioned off to gain money for the church. We decided to join in the fun and buy a jackfruit for 20,000 shillings. After mass, we were invited to the local football match against two neighboring villages. The location was at the field which we had raised money to redo. Upon arrival at the football match, I was told I was the "guest of honor"and was requested to sit in chairs brought onto the hillside for all of us myzungus or byzungu to sit in. We decided shortly after arriving that we would give our seats up and sit on the grass with the children. My favorite part of the match was everytime the home team would score, the fans would rush the fields and the women and children at the ends of the field would play music, dance, and sing. It was absolutely amazing. Following the match Will and I went back to the Batwamobile (the van which has been driving us around in Bwindi) to gather the jerseys, soccer balls and footballs we had brought to hand over to the people of the town. The jerseys went to the community's team to be used when they travel to show off their talents. Two soccer balls went to each of the teams who played and one went to the women's team. The two footballs went to the primary and secondary school in the village. Seeing the adults and children sprinting around the field playing in their newly acquired sports equipment was amazing. we decided to join in, show them how to throw the american football and played with the children, chasing them around and sharing smiles. We were sad to leave the field, but the children gave us a warm goodbye by chasing our van out and jumping on the back bumper yelling for us to wave to them. Truly amazing.
On our second day in Bwindi we went to the Batwa Cultural Center for the pygmy people who were forced from the rainforest and taken in by the land of Scott Kellermann of Kellermann foundations. We climbed to the top of the mountain where we were taught traditional dances, shown the traditional way of life, and even got to try our hand in some basic hunting practices. We also met the chief of the group who I do not even know how to describe but a video will be posted. She haunts my dreams. As we were leaving the cultural center a huge storm rolled in and we were poured on as we climbed down the mountain soaking wet. I had grabbed a banana leaf to cover my head as we shifted down the mountain. This only worked for a little bit before we decided to run to our van. As we ran past the schools kids would come out of their classrooms laughing at us and yelling "myzungu!" Good times.
We got out of the rain and to the van back to our lodge where we showered in freezing cold rainwater. After getting all cleaned up, Joseph Safari, a leader with the Batwa Development Program ran to us sharing information that he knew where a family of gorillas were. We quickly gathered our stuff and hurried to the location. Upond arrival we saw one sitting in the tree and heard rustling behind a couple houses so we decided to travel behind the houses and spot the gorillas. We were all in pure awe of the beasts which walked past us, only 10 feet in front of us. Pictures will be posted. We saw nearly 10 gorillas, one silverback, and one baby. Absolutely amazing. However, armed guards apparently saw us and not very kindly asked us to leave. We decided to pay them 50,000 shillings to keep their mouths closed about all of it. I do not even know how to describe the event. Most people pay 500 USD to trek the gorillas, we paid 5.
Today, after our high of gorillas viewing, travelled to a Batwa development location to mud a house for a family to move into. Basically it consisted of us piling mud up between walls of bamboo. Pictures will follow this too. However, now it is time to go shower and go back to the site where we previously saw the gorillas, hoping to see them again!
Peace,
Jeff
Monday, July 12, 2010
Trip Is Still On!
Hey everyone,
As many of you know there were multiple bombings in the capital city of Uganda, Kampala. Will and I are still going to be traveling to Uganda. Thanks to Kevin Dugan who has helped us tremendously throughout this process. We have changed our itinerary a little bit and are going to be avoiding the major cities and population centers.
Thanks so much
Jeff
As many of you know there were multiple bombings in the capital city of Uganda, Kampala. Will and I are still going to be traveling to Uganda. Thanks to Kevin Dugan who has helped us tremendously throughout this process. We have changed our itinerary a little bit and are going to be avoiding the major cities and population centers.
Thanks so much
Jeff
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Before The Flight
So tonight I am sitting at my computer, updating my Ipod, charging my camera and flip cam, and reading about the recent bombing which occurred in Kampala, Uganda. Today has been a day full of the "this is getting real" feeling: I got sick earlier today from my malaria pills, trying to jam everything into one checked bag and a back pack (still not done, shhhhh), and becoming aware of the dangers of traveling once again. I never enjoy flying, so we'll see how these two 8hour flights go (better than Australia I guess though...).
I leave from my home in Pittsburgh to New York - JFK airport on a 1PM flight and then meet up with Will. We will have a couple hours in the airport to catch up and then we board our 8hour flight to Amsterdam on KLM. From Amsterdam we have about a three hour lay-over then have another 8hour flight south to Entebbe, Uganda. From the airport we will be picked up and go to the Bethany Retreat House to spend our first couple nights. This is where we will also be meeting up with Jake and Joel and further our adventure.
This is where I leave you early Monday morning. Hopefully I will be able to update this blog (maybe even with some pictures) throughout the trip!
Peace
Jeff
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