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Africa Trip: Day 9, Maura

Posted by admin on 07.16.2010 at 12:57 pm

The trip is going well. Uganda was as emotionally stirring as South Africa is beautiful. I was not aware of how beautiful a country South Africa is nor was I as prepared to be as touched by the people of Uganda as I was. Keep in mind that Uganda is basically a country that has been upset by war. A violent conflict that has taken its toll on the people of the country. Imagine having to leave your home just to be safe and then not be able to return once the war is over because you no longer have title to the land as it was handed down from your father’s father? This has happened to many. If you were widowed while in the camps that were built to house you to keep you safe, you cannot return home because it is your husband’s family that owns the home you once knew. So what happens then and where do you go? There are way too many here trying to figure that out.

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The people of Uganda have been through so much I find it so unbelievable that they are as open and friendly as they are. They have to be one of the warmest people I have met in my life. They welcome strangers into their homes, feed them, and pray for them upon departure. They were honest and open when talking to us. The people we were meeting through the Legacy Scholarship Program offered by Invisible Children were the proud parents and it was clear that they just want the best for their children.

The folks of South Africa have been as warm. The students or Learners as they are called here have sung and danced for us at each location. The teachers and other students have given speeches to thank us for our work. I must say I have met some very poised 7th graders that are able to speak to a crowd of people in a stirring way! Most of the libraries have been set up and are in good shape but could always use more space and books. They serve an incredible amount of food to share with us and it is an outright celebration that we have come to visit. Next time I visit home the family is really going to have to do some things differently because a person could get use to this type of treatment!
Read more…

Have your say » | Tagged Africa 2010, Literacy Trips, books for africa, invisible children, Legacy Scholarship Program, room to read, South Africa, uganda, Zulu

Africa Trip: Day 1 – 4, Jason

Posted by admin on 07.15.2010 at 4:27 pm

Of course internet access has been spotty for our Africa travelers, but I just go this update from employee Jason Staples who is along for the ride. Enjoy a few days of his unique reflections!

July 6, 2010

We have just landed in Uganda! It is quite a small airport, with quite a few Coca-Cola logos. We were immediately greeted by Andrew from Invisible Children. We traveled approximately five hours from the Entebbe airport to Gulu, where we were staying in a hotel in the middle of downtown. The first culture shock of the trip occurred when we immediately were thrown into the craziest traffic I have ever seen. Our van driver was constantly honking at cars, scooters, and bicycles riding the shoulder of the road. Along with the people on the side of the road, we witnessed goats, cows, and monkeys. Some of them were even riding in the back of the trucks! The power seems to go out in Gulu on a semi-regular basis, also. We have been adjusting pretty quickly though and our flash lights have come in handy on a few occasions.

July 7, 2010

Breakfast. We have become quite accustomed to Spanish omelettes, toast, bananas, and fruit juice every morning at our hotel. Apparently though, you become a target of mosquitoes when you eat a lot of bananas and then sweat. Most of us have chosen to live dangerously and just eat lots of bananas.

After breakfast, Andrew picked us up from the hotel and took us to the Invisible Children office in Gulu. There is a case on the wall in the lobby, displaying all of the products that IC has created since they started. He gave us a short history of the Read more…

1 Comment » | Tagged Africa 2010, Literacy Trips, Gulu, invisible children, Jaosn Staples, Mattuck, uganda

Africa Trip: Day 5, Audrey

Posted by admin on 07.13.2010 at 8:00 pm

Hello Again! Our itinerary has kept us quite busy, and will continue to for the next week until we fly back to the States. We are now in South Africa and looking forward to visiting our Room to Read and Books for Africa partners.

Our last few days in Uganda were very memorable. We all had the opportunity to travel for one day with Invisible Children mentors as they made visits to families and students. Invisible Children sponsors a scholarship program for nearly 700 students in the Gulu, Uganda area. These students not only have their education paid for, but are partnered with a mentor who helps the student to focus on their studies. Many of the students attend boarding schools as well and the mentors communicate between the students and families so news from home makes it to school and back again.

The main mode of transportation for the mentors is cheap, fast and easy to maneuver in the busy Gulu streets: motorbikes! A number of us even cruised a little way out of town and into the bush, where the countryside is green, lush and covered in a mixture of tall grass, tasseling maize, and palm trees. I stopped at five different homes over the course of the day (which included a break at lunch for the local high school volleyball tournament) with Jefferey, who mentors 32 students in all. The conversations were in the local language, and usually centered around the health of the family members and other happenings at home. It was a fascinating and humbling experience to be invited into homes, offered maize (like sweet corn, without the sweet, butter or salt!) and soda and hear the conversations translated from my mentor. What an incredible look into the real day-to-day experiences of a wonderfully hospitable and open culture.

So much of our trip has been enlightening and terrific. However, I feel it is only right to share some of our more anecdotal experiences as well. In preparation for a cruise on the Nile which was planned for our time at Murchison Falls National Park (see Jason’s upcoming post), one of our members visited the Pharmacy asking for a motion sickness remedy. Upon leaving, walking to our restaurant and opening the box and reading the details, we found it was actually a remedy for morning sickness. This person was able to return the purchase for a full refund.

Ugandan vehicles have to be built to survive hard and bumpy roads in the dry season and large mud puddles and slicks in the wet season. Our vehicle was from the Invisible Children office, and held up wonderfully for our long hours on the road. One afternoon, as we were about halfway through a five our trek, we stopped to stretch. As soon as everyone was out of the car, we heard a hissing and looked; our rear tire was losing air, and quickly went completely flat. Luckily we had a spare with us, but the jack we had wasn’t tall enough to get the vehicle far enough off the ground! The next hour (maybe more) was spent trying to place the tire in the perfect pothole, while keeping the axel on high ground so we would be able to get the tire off. The truly ironic part was that this was one of the smoothest gravel roads we had been on in days…

1 Comment » | Tagged Africa 2010, Literacy Trips, books for africa, invisible children, room to read, uganda

Welcome Invisible Children!

Posted by admin on 12.04.2008 at 6:44 pm

Check out the following video and info on our newest partner, Invisible Children. The last video I saw from them caused tears in 150+ employees in the Green House, so you know they can make an awesome video. Story below…

Invisible Children has linked up their amazing “Schools for Schools” program with Better World Books, and the results are sure to be spectacular. Haven’t heard about IC? Well, they’re an amazing group of folks in SoCal who have created a documentary and mobilized a nation’s worth of students to help partner schools in Uganda. Why Uganda? Read more…

12 Comments » | Tagged Impact, Our Partners, africa, book drives, invisible children, schools for schools, uganda

Invisible Children and Better World Books Team Up for “World’s Biggest Book Drive”

Posted by Jack on 10.21.2008 at 10:12 am

ATLANTA, GA – This fall, media-based non-profit Invisible Children will connect students to the overwhelming crisis in Africa in a totally new way – with a documentary told from the perspective of high school students. GO, the first of its kind, is the story of a group of students that traveled into the heart of Africa’s longest-running war. At the end of the 35-minute film, which is being screened in over 1,000 locations in the U.S. and Canada, viewers will be compelled to become a part of the story’s end by getting involved with Invisible Children’s Schools for Schools program.

The international organization created the revolutionary fundraising program in 2006 in response to the need for quality schools in northern Uganda – schools that have been destroyed by displacement, rebel occupation and lack of funding due to the 22-year war. Schools for Schools uses an innovative online social community to help students see where their money is going and connect to different projects, fundraising ideas, and supporters. Within its first year, students rallied together and raised over $3 million.
Read more…

Have your say » | Tagged Impact, Our Partners, Show Us Some Love, africa, Impact, invisible children, Our Partners, the world's biggest book drive, uganda

Books for Africa Teams with UMECS to Bring Schools to Uganda

Posted by admin on 12.26.2007 at 11:53 am

Books for Africa and UMECS (United Movement to End Child Soldiering) are putting efforts to help form school systems in Northern Uganda.

For $13,000 assembly, packing and shipping costs, Books for Africa will be shipping 35,000 well selected school books (approximate retail value: $150,000) and ten computers to four secondary schools in Northern Uganda. We are leading the campaign to raise these funds which will bring needed books to classrooms and libraries at Sacred Heart Secondary School in Gulu District; Alliance College Secondary School in Kitgum District; Lira Palwo Secondary School in Pader District and a secondary school in Amuru District in Northern Uganda . For more information about Books for Africa. (original text at Pan-African Empowerment)

Have your say » | Tagged Impact, Our Partners, africa, books for africa, uganda, UMECS

Books Coming and Going

Posted by admin on 10.13.2006 at 11:35 am

It’s been a busy week in the Logistics office, starting and ending with a bang. Monday found the Campus Division Support Agent (myself) navigating a very large truck through the streets of Chicago to pick up 9 pallets of books generously donated by the Chicago Public Library’s Friends of the Blackstone Branch . The streets of Chicago never felt so narrow, but with the help of a few dedicated volunteers, especially Betsy Glynn, my navigator, and Dina Weinstein, our contact at the book sale, we were able to get about 9000 books boxed up and loaded in under two hours. Great job and thank you to everyone involved!

Now Friday has finally arrived, and we ended our week in the warehouse by sending our second shipment of approximately 18,000 college text books directly to the Kampala International University in Uganda .

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We have more of these direct shipments scheduled and we will try to keep everyone updated as they go out. In the meantime, everyone have a fantastic weekend, and keep those books coming!