Peace through Yoga

       Two weeks ago today I arrived in Uganda.  It’s been life-changing for everyone who was on this journey.  The last three days we have entrenched ourselves in the red soil of Africa by helping build an elementary school.  With the $125K we raised for Building Tomorrow, we saw the four acres that was purchased that will have the eight room school, teachers’ facility, playground, and dormitories and/or volunteer house in the future.
       Personally, my humanitarian work has usually not included a lot of manual labor.  I loved it.  I learned about making and laying bricks, carrying them on my head, and wheel barrowing and spreading dirt.
       As always the people were the highlight.  The villagers came out the first day to help work as a team.  They were so appreciative that a school was being built for their children.  This is an area that does not currently have a formal school in operation, giving many children their first opportunity to learn inside a classroom.
       I was filled with joy yesterday as we interacted with over 100 children who will attend the school.  As a group we sang songs, danced, did yoga, drew peace cards, jumped rope, read books, and interacted.
       Every child in the world should be entitled to elementary education.  Did you know that approximately 38 million kids are in school today in the U.S.?  Well, there are approximately 41 million children not in school in the sub-Saharan Africa today. 
       The group started leaving today…either for home or an optional safari excursion.  There was much joy, tears and laughter at our farewell dinner last night.  Like many nights at the hotel, we did a couple of hours of “processing” and checking in with each other.
       What did we learn?  We learned to be present in every situation; that it isn’t just about raising money for projects---it is educating the west (that would be you) about these global issues; it is never about “us” versus “them”; that if someone triggers us, it is probably something we don’t like about ourselves; that we are blessed to live in an area that doesn’t take rape to get married; it has to be about sustainability and relationships and not just giving things; we don’t get rewarded in the U.S. if we aren’t producing---sometimes it is better to let go of ambition and achieving; recreate your life if it isn’t working anymore; our work is about sacred activism—use this work to heal your soul; this work isn’t about any of one of us…this was all a God-thing.
       Thank you for reading and sharing my journey!  I leave for Cape Town, South Africa early tomorrow morning to plan next year’s journey.  In the meantime, I hope to see you at the Women Like Us Afternoon Tea and Speaker Series on Thursday, April 15 to meet Natalie Angell and hear more about the women like us in Africa.  (www.womenlikeusfoundation.org)

       Happy Valentine’s Day from Africa!  After a full day at a very needy orphanage yesterday, we had two hours of yoga practice this morning with Seane Corn.  It truly is the best way to get reconnected again---mind, body, and spirit.  Seane is an internationally celebrated yoga teacher known for her impassioned activism, unique self-expression, and inspirational style of teaching.  She has been asked recently by Oprah’s team to blog about her own background in yoga. 

       Last night we had a dinner in a private home of a local yogi.  His home was a haven for a meditation outside under a beautiful pavilion.  Suzanne Sterling, who also joins these trips with Seane and me, is an ecstatic vocalist and composer whose devotional music has been called a “groove-loving and seductive journey into Spirit” and whose music has been commissioned for firm, theater, and DVD.  She sings, plays the drums, and continues to touch souls with her music and singing throughout the trip.  Check her out on www.suzannesterling.com.

       As for the orphanage, I am thrilled to say that we focused on true sustainable projects:  a filtration system for the water taken out a very stagnant stream, a vegetable garden for food, school books, new mattresses for the 80 children who live there, and painted a mural on one of the classroom walls.  The group also did stations where the children rotated every 20 minutes.  The stations included fluoride treatments, taking pictures of each child and putting them into plastic frames (first time for most of them), yoga, dance, colorful parachute, soccer or jump roping and reading.  One of the volunteers said this quote really spoke to her about the day:  "Souls don't have races or sexes or religions.  They are beyond artificial divisions.”  Once again the twenty women on this trip were deeply moved. 

       In summary, Valentine’s Day also reminds me of what this country is dealing with in regard to love, sex, and passion.  The country is trying to promote the ABC’s. 
A = Abstinence, B = Be Faithful, and C = Use a Condom.   

       The rise in AIDS for married couples increases all the time.  Billboards promote the Go Red campaign:  Reliable, Exceptional, Dependable.  Another increase in behavior is “Sugar Daddies” approaching young girls.  One billboard campaign that has been used says it all:  Would you let this man be with your teenage daughter?  So why are you with his?

       With all this, however, it is not looking at the difference but feeling the connectedness of those we do meet.  I’ve learned that true service is dignifying the human experience.  

       Have a great Valentine's Day and know I am thinking of you.

Sally

xo

       Five minutes after entering a birthing center this morning I witnessed a baby being born through a c-section.  I was rushed into the surgery room by Sister Teddy, who I have gotten to known through my three visits now to the medical clinic.  The baby almost died.  I prayed as the baby was cleaned up and a small pump was used to get the baby to breathe.  It was a blessed moment when a weak cry finally occurred.

       This was the mother’s seventh child.  She and her baby would have died if her mother hadn’t brought her to the clinic right away.  Her uterus was about to burst.  She should have had her tubes tied in the process but the law says you must have your husband’s written consent.  The grandmother was beside herself as she herself had 12 children and five have died through AIDS.
       The clinic was fairly busy today---women in labor, one woman getting a DNC from a bad abortion, another ready to deliver a baby that had no heart beat.
       It has also been joyful.  Two days ago I was able to be part of a natural birth.  A healthy baby boy!  There is nothing like being part of this experience----well, unless it is having your own children.  (Ash and Laura---two of the best days of my life :)
       Different gals from my group were able to join me the two days at the clinic.  They, too, will never forget the experience.   
       This was just part of the big news from the last three days in Kasana, Uganda.  Besides visiting the existing clinic, we were there to see the construction area of the new birthing center that was being built from the group's funding.  We took mopeds from our guesthouse the first full morning through the bush to the site.  The founder and now my very special friend for this project, Natalie Angell, had done so much in sixty days when the first machete took to clearing the brush.
       Natalie is a 27 year old Canadian gal who started Shanti Uganda.  We partnered with her to raise funds for her dream to build a birthing center in a very needy area.  The idea was to respect the women’s traditions but also support them in a way they wouldn’t get at a local hospital.  We were able to help make bricks, rub mud over the bricks, walk through the bush to see the neighboring homes, and learn about the solar system and how it was going to be maintained.
       Last night we danced and sang under the African stars around a bonfire at the site with all the local women Natalie has involved.  Natalie has chosen 28 women to learn bead and bag making.  She pays them more than “fair trade” value.  These women’s lives have changed.  I met these women on my last visit to Uganda in September so it was such a joy to see them again.
       Oops...time for dinner.  Talk soon.  Thanks for reading. 
P.S.  Mark your calendar for Thursday, April 15 to meet Natalie at our Women Like Us Afternoon Tea and Speaker Series in Indianapolis.  Money raised at this tea will help support the new birthing center.  Make reservations on www.womenlikeusfoundation.org.

     Words are truly hard to come by when trying to express this experience in Africa.  Today lives were changed for the participants on this trip.  How could it not when you go to the slums where families have been living for decades.  The Acholi Quarters are where people from northern Uganda were forced to leave and settle in Kampala.  There homes were no more than one room shacks with as many as 19 children in one family.  We felt humbled and honored to be invited into them.
     Our visit started in a larger hut used by the community where women were chosen to come meet with us, sing a few songs, then matched with one of our volunteers who went to their homes.  Before leaving the hut the women were given bags of rice, sugar, millet, soap, and de-worming pills that we brought based on the number in their family.
     Each of our women also took gifts based on what they knew of the children’s ages in the home they were to visit.  Everyone on the trip had brought an extra bag of in-kind donations for the birthing center, school, orphanage, and other children we would meet along the way.  Before leaving the hotel for the slums, it was like going Christmas shopping for the families.  All the bags were opened and gifts were chosen with care to take to the families they were to meet.
     Earlier today we spent time learning more about the recent history of Uganda and one of the most designated international criminals---Joseph Kony.  Since 1986 he has been abducting young boys (ages 8, 9, 10…) and forcing them to fight for him.  Young girls have also been abducted to be “wives” and to also cook for them.  The LRA raids remote villages with 15 to 30 solders taking food, medicine, and…children.
     Right now there is peace in northern Uganda.  Joseph Kony is operating in southern Sudan and Democratic Republic of Congo.  It has been one of the longest running wars at 24 years.
     We met with an organization, Invisible Children, and received a detailed overview of what is being done for the former child soldiers.  You cannot even imagine what atrocities these children had to commit just to stay alive.  If you haven’t seen the documentary done by the three young founders of Invisible Children, please make it a priority to do so.  Go to www.invisiblechildren.org.
     At the end of our very long day all the participants shared briefly what it took for each of them to raise $20,000 just to be here in Uganda.  I was shocked when they asked who paid for the food we delivered to the families today.  It is beginning to dawn on them---they did.  They will continue to see the fruit of their labor as our journey continues.
     Every day I learn that women all over the world are truly "women like us".  From the women who live in slums who want nothing more than what we want for our own children to the women who went out of their own comfort zone to raise funds to make a difference.  It truly is about educating, empowering and engaging.

     I am on my way to Uganda.  After a year of planning, the day is finally here.  Dressed in safari gear and a backpack, I’m ready for the 26 hour journey through four airports.  My passengers—22 dynamic women that I’ve never met---will arrive two days after I am in Kampala, the capital of Uganda.
     The most amazing thing about this trip already is that all the participants had to raise $20,000 per person to be able to go.   These gals are all ages and across the United States and Canada.   They raised their $20K through various fundraisers---a feat in itself.  It’s called the Seva Challenge.  Seva means selfless service in Sanskrit.
     The Challenge is in partnership with Off the Mat Into the World, an organization in California.  It is a transformational journey that builds community, provokes critical consciousness about global issues of social justice and equity, and raises significant funds to support communities in crisis.
     Two specific sustainable projects will include building a birthing center and an elementary school in rural areas of Uganda.   With funding sent ahead, both buildings are underway and foundations have been laid.
     The partnership for the birthing center is with Shanti Uganda, a Vancouver-based organization dedicated to improving the physical, emotional and spiritual well-being of communities impacted by war, poverty and HIV/AIDS in Uganda.   The Birthing Center will be a place where women come for prenatal support and care, prenatal yoga, birth assistance, postnatal support and breastfeeding education.  The center will also provide ongoing training for local midwives and those in the birthing center.
     Yesterday I received an email from the founder and executive director of Shanti Uganda, with a request to bring prenatal vitamins.   She had just found out that she is about two months pregnant!   Natalie and I met her last September for the first time as I traveled to Kampala and scouted out land with her for the center.  We were in an existing birthing center when I got to witness a C-section and help with two natural deliveries.   I am so excited to go back and to be part of a new birthing center.
     The school we are building is in partnership with a fellow Indianapolis person.  George Scour is in his late twenties and is founder/executive director of Building Tomorrow.  Building Tomorrow, an international non-profit organization, empowers people to raise funds and awareness to build and support educational infrastructure projects for underserved children in sub-Saharan Africa.   George is amazing and making a huge difference in rural areas of Uganda with his schools.
     It is time to take off on my second leg of my flight.  Stay tuned.  I promise to give you more of an insight into Africa as the days go by.