Lake Victoria

We woke up to  a breakfast of popcorn followed shortly after by a 4 hour art class. I guided a free-painting lesson in acrylic. Norah did a bright painting of tomatoes and pineapples. I asked the prompt: “what do you dream about?” I was so surprised at the huge number of drawings returned to me of helicopters and airplanes with statements related to wishing to come back to America with me.

We finished our lesson and all got severely dressed up. I was unsure as to where we are going but they said it was to be for my 21st birthday. They rented two taxis for all of us to be able to go to our secret location.

We arrived at Lake Victoria and we all danced together and played games. There was a DJ that played songs that were ripped from a radio station from Wichita. The unmistakable American accent would come over the loud system in between 90s songs and we would all dance barefoot on the cool, very green grass. Monkeys from overhead would turn their heads sideways back and forth, expressing a very evident curiosity for what we were doing.

Add comment | rachel

Friday the 13th

Today is my twenty-first birthday. It wasn’t really about celebrating drinking age… It was more about teaching Norah how to type, playing jump-rope (I’m terrible at it), finishing two paintings, starting 37 more. I took a solid gig of photographs and some long exposures with a wide-angle lens. So, those were my gifts and they couldn’t be better, oh, also a Tilapia fishhead from Lake Victoria, a mango and lengthy conversations with good friends on the phone. I was told to put nice clothes on for tomorrow and that it is a surprise for my birthday as to where we are going.

Add comment | rachel

Acrylic-looking Landscapes

I am exhausted. I finished two paintings of my own and started two others. I am excited to see where they all go. I took film of the kids doing household chores, still frames and took photographs of them. We dragged the living room furniture outside so we could sit and all do a landscape.

It went very well, despite the language barrier. I handed out colored construction paper for the little ones that they enjoyed immensely. Everytime I enter a room I am bombarded by calls of “aunti rashel” and arms waving a piece of art at me. I feel confident in the work I’ve done here. I think we will do great things for this place. Our room is covered in drawings done by the children

Add comment | rachel

Still Life with a Red Thermos

I had a 4AM kitkit wake up via urinating on my pack underneath my bed. It took the little thing fifteen seconds to find it and release itself on my possession. I finished the hand-painted Greenhouse Orphanage sign as Heather read outloud to me. It came out looking alright, needs a little ironing and it’ll be near perfect. I sewed little bracelets and rings to sell for profit for the orphanage today and set up a still life for the children. I am still surprised by their innate ability to foreshorten and use perspective. They are all under twelve years old. Geesh.

It felt like fall in south Florida today, with dappled sunlight and a lot of breeze. It felt amazing and somehow… exceptionally transcendental. I really enjoyed this feeling of being connected to what is natural as we took a short hike to an internet café. The side of the tin roof comes off a little when there is too much wind, which would give us a little surprise everytime we’d hear the thing crash. I spent a good time trying to upload some pictures from our work here but no avail. Anyway, back to the kids. Heather and I started talking about what it’s going to feel like to leave. At this thought, little tears threatened at the corner of my eyes. I feel such a strong attachment to this place and these kids. I am going to miss them terribly. The full weight of what Kathy does here is also impacting me. This woman, is 22, she is a mother to 34 children at a time and 64 when the rest that are at boarding school are around. I was just talking to her today and she was talking about Isaac skipping school and having problems with teaching Joweria how to iron. I mean, that is just incredible to me. I asked her how long it takes for the children to walk to their schools and she said it takes sometimes two hours for the ones in primary school. We talked about the immediate needs of the children and getting them tested for HIV, their school fees, and trying to get running water to come back.

After our still life lesson, I asked them to draw something that they love. I received a lot of wedding drawings, which was an interesting parallel/comparison from back home and then those evolved into free session for drawing. Which consisted of hm, well garden tools, some lions, a lot of flowers, and a tv with a newscaster on it. We had dinner and Norah and I spent an hour drawing together, talking more in depth about foreshortening and the anatomy. I gave her a small homework assignment and then we both went our separate ways for bed.

Add comment | rachel

“Everything is so expensive”

Today I was able to sit down and talk with Kethy about the expenses of running this orphanage. The one thing we’ve been told since we arrived is how much the prices in Uganda are constantly rising. The school fees are basically nothing if you compare it with what I’m spending to attend good ‘ol Florida State University. But, for Ugandans, it’s very expensive. And for an orphanage to sustain itself along with sending 64 kids to school, it’s incredibly expensive. Along with school fees comes school uniforms, and books. All of which have to be bought new every year. The kids also need to have their hair short for school. Boys and girls. It really makes their needs a reality to me when I hear Kethy, 19 years old, talk about the struggles of putting these kids through school. She is the mom to all of them. They are coming to her everyday with their problems or sickness or anything. She loves these children, that’s very apparent. She has sacrificed everything for them. And she never complains about it. She’s one of the strongest women I’ve ever met.

Ben made the comment today, “Here in Uganda, your problems are other people’s opinions.” Basically, that everyone in Uganda is facing some type of hardship. So why should they be sympathetic toward what others are going through. They have to be concerned with their own problems, their own survival. Ugandans, like everything else, can’t afford sympathy.

Add comment | Heather

Yes, please.

I taught life drawing and did two acrylic paintings that I am very happy with.

I talked about the difference between value and line and following the life drawing class we did a quick still life with color. I was so impressed that they had this innate and accurate sense of perspective. They drew me while I posed, intermittently pausing to try and make me laugh.

Lydia made two dresses for me today while I sewed bracelets to sell to profit the home. We’re making rings tomorrow.
Hm. I just remembered that my 21st birthday is this Friday.
Oh, also, I spent around five hours hand painting a sign for the orphanage, my back hurts and my neck aches and I’m not even finished yet.

Add comment | rachel

4 gigs of photographs

I had this incredible nights sleep, the best I have had so far. The cipro is helping quite a bit, I feel almost completely better. Today was quite full. We began the day filming and taking pictures as they prepared breakfast. The children open their hands and show me the beans they’ve been sorting. Somayia does the calypso dance for me while I have the camera pointed at her. I taught the children how to do water resistant painting, putting down crayons and then watercolors. It was so exciting to see how much they loved it. I was being tugged at from all sides constantly for two hours to be asked for another sheet of paper. “aunt rashel, may I have another paper?” We used up all of the paper, so I am going into polluted kampala to pick up more. We are braiding African fabric into bracelets so we can sell them to profit the home. While I was in my room editing photos and Norah sent me a note through my door that said “Rachel, we need more work.” So I came outside and taught them some anatomy and proportions. After this she asked me to draw a white businessman with hair like mine. Kathy bought us Tilapia from Lake Victoria and they cooked it without removing the head.

I took 4 gbs of photographs and filmed almost two hours.I made sure each child had their portrait taken and we took pictures of the Kallibala family (minus Kevin of course). We took a giant group picture with even ssekoko.

Heather, Ben and I went to the internet café and I was there for an hour and all I completed was send one message and one email. We came home and I watched Kathy iron 35 uniforms. She must be the strongest person I know, she is a mother to over 39 children. Lydia asked us if the word fat offended Americans which we laughed about. She talked about people in the villages that are primitive and complained about how we don’t eat a lot. Yup.

Add comment | rachel

Color Theory

I had to begin taking Cipro today because my bouts of sickness have turned rather serious. I hope it gets better, I am not panicked but I am slightly concerned. Despite this personal problem things are going really well. It poured today which allowed me to take some beautiful still shots of rain coming down. As rain beat down on the tin roof, Heather and I primed canvas and cut the larger pieces into smaller, manageable sizes.  I finished my large instructional poster about color theory. I taught a large lesson on using acrylic paints, complimentary colors and how to mix colors.

The paintings came out, for the most part, really well. We will be working more and more throughout the week. The power went out for a little again. I played soccer with Abdu, we headed the ball back and forth. Then Resty tried to teach us the Ugandan dance, Calypso. I have begun to teach Norah Graphic Design alongside acrylic painting. The power went off for a bit, we danced some more, when it came back on and we watched African Idol with everyone, laughing at the bad singers.

Add comment | rachel

#9

Well today, we woke up early to hide a camera in the children’s rooms to catch some shots of them waking up for school and getting ready. We had to hide it under some obligation to get some natural shots because all the ones we have of them are mostly dominated by frenzied waving arms. They are so excited about cameras and technology. When I was taking portraits yesterday everyone lined up, pushing to be in front. Just to have a picture taken, even the 50 year old that we call Jah-Jah. It seems as if everyone wants a part of their identity captured

Add comment | rachel

And another lesson in portraiture

Today, I woke up feeling a little sick again. Despite this, I walk to the pre-primary school, Great World where eight of the children from the orphanage go to school. The headmistress is extremely excited to see us and takes multiple pictures. Everytime this happens, the children scream in delight. They gather around us and try to touch any part of us, as if we’re something divine. Our hair, skin, clothes were all being delicately pulled at by small hands. When gathered around us they are quiet. The ones from the orphanage that recognize us seem proud to be affiliated with us. The headmistress brings us into her office and children peek their heads in as she talks with us. She repeatedly has to tell them to keep quiet and asks them questions like “can’t you see we’re talking.” She tells us how she’s been afraid to travel lately because of the hijackings and she’s been to only Hungary outside of Uganda. She said “it is so good of you to come here and help us blacks, it is rare, yes.” I particularly enjoyed when she told us that “people move, but mountains do not,” when speaking about how small the world is getting.

I worked on lesson plans. Drawing large posters and diagrams for proportions for faces and color theory. The internet company “Uganda telecom” came and installed some lines, but did not turn the internet on. I took some beautiful portraits of the children and had a portraiture lesson for around three hours.

Add comment | rachel