Home Sweet Home - THANKS FOR ALL THE SUPPORT!

WE MADE IT!!!!!!!!

Our 11 hour flight from Cairo to JFK full of screaming children went very smoothly and it was probably for the best that we did not sleep the entire way!  Once we got to JFK, and made it through customs after 2 hours of waiting - we left Dan with his family and found out that American Airlines did not have us on either of the RDU flights that evening.  After spending a few hours on the phone, again, our parents found out that our seats were never reserved for the flight on the 4th after missing the flight on the 3rd.  Marc and Katie were panicking at the thought of having to stay in a hotel overnight AGAIN...it was looking like we were actually never going to get home. 

Thank goodness for Dan's parents - who picked us up coming out of customs, loaded us into their car, and stuck with us until we figured out that Egypt Air had rerouted us through Delta airlines - so we definitely had no American Airlines seats :).  Once we figured out where we were going....everything went perfectly!  We landed on time in Raliegh, got our bags, ate american food, and went to sleep!

Marc carrying my bag - Uganda style.



ON THE PLANE TO RDU!!!

 We could not be happier with how our trip went.  We learned so much about Uganda, dentistry, people, and life on this trip.  We are happy to hear stories from those that we have helped saying that for the first time in their memory they are out of pain, and that the villagers we helped will always remember us - they truly would NOT have received care/hygeine education had we not made this trip happen.  We can only hope that the trip will grow and expand to fill the needs of as many people as possible, make a big difference in their lives and overall health, and to increase the interactions between UNC and Makerere University to further benefit both sides!

If  you support our cause and would like to help us reach our goals for 2013, please click the links on the right to make a monetary donation or purchase a Uganda T-Shirt!  A HUGE THANK YOU to all of our donors, classmates, Dr. Farmer, family and friends for helping us make The Uganda Project a reality!

When in Cairo.....

Yesterday was a no good, horrible, terrible, bad day - after being awake for more than 24 hours, in an airport with nowhere comfortable to fall asleep, we found out that our Cairo flight was going to be another hour delayed meaning that we would miss our connection to JFK and NEVER GET BACK TO AMERICA!!!! When all of us were at our very crankiest, we boarded the plane at 6AM and all fell asleep before we even took off, ready to get to Cairo and dreaming about other connecting flights that would get us home.

When we landed, the display boards showed our flight still boarding, so we sprinted to the transfer desk only to be told that the board hadn't been updated and our flight was gone.  We didnt believe this and just assumed that everyone is trying to make us stay in Africa - especially after they told us that we would be in Cairo for 24 hours and they would put us in a hotel but we had to leave our passports at the airport - SKETCH.  Naturally, we did it anyway.

After taking a quick nap and eating lunch, we decided we had to make the best of the situation and ignore the warnings of everyone we have ever met and go explore Cairo.  Together with our new friend Dominique, who was also trying to get to JFK, we hired a driver (a very safe, reputable one from our hotel) and headed to the pyramids.  Our driver basically forced us into purchasing a camel ride - which we were all annoyed about at first because we didn't want to spend any money, but after we talked him down to $25 a person we were sold.  It was AMAZING!!!

Katie, Marc, their camels, the pyramid and Adam the guide.

Dan just getting on his camel.

We had all seen camels before but are pretty sure that you never realize how tall you are until you are sitting on one, riding across the desert, in front of the PYRAMIDS.  They are huge!! We got to ride right up to them and climb around and play on the ruins for a little bit before we had to say goodbye to our camels.  Dominique's camel was sassy and spit all over her and made a lot of noise, other than that they were very gentle and we all really enjoyed ourselves....when will we ever be in Egypt again?? (do NOT reply with "next year when your flight gets delayed again")

Katie, Marc, Dan & Dominique hanging out on the base of a pyramid.



The Sphinx!  Dont judge our photography - all photos taken while hanging onto to camel for dear life.



Crazy camel

 Our driver took us for a tour of Old Cairo, New Cairo, the religious area, and downtown - it was all really cool, there is a lot to see in Cairo and much of it is very beautiful.  We stopped to take some pictures by the Nile, and watched everyone preparing to break fast since we are in the middle of Ramadan.  Our driver warned us that it was time to head back at around 5;  he says that a couple hours before time to break fast everyone can get a little crazy and he wanted to make sure we were back before then :)



The Nile in Egypt.

Against our will, we have really enjoyed our time in Cairo.  We landed this morning determined to go back to America or be in a bad mood and ended up having a blast at one of the seven wonders of the world instead! Hopefully our travels tomorrow go off without a hitch and then next time you hear from us it won't be with a surprise stop in another country!

Last Days in Africa!

Our driver had us wake up early for another day of game drives on Wednesday morning.  We drove through the park and it seemed like everything except the antelopes were hiding from us.  We think Moses could tell that we had seen what we wanted to see and were mentally done with the long, bumpy drives in the van!  He planned an AMAZING afternoon for us and surprised us after lunch.  As we had mentioned before, all he told us was that we were going to go to an area without hippos/crocs and we thought he would have us swim.  Instead, he introduced us to a few Pakwatch (the town/village we were in) locals and they took us for an afternoon in the villages.
 

Dan finally fishing!

Fred and Patrick, the locals/our afternoon tour guides, took us down to the "port" where the local fisherman fish from.  Dan got to go out in one of the canoes with Moses and Fred while Marc and Katie took pictures and hung out with some of the kids.  Then we took a walking tour of the village - we got to see where/how they cook, how cassava flour is made, how fish are preserved, and how local crafts are made (which is AMAZING - the hand crafted stuff they can make is wild).  It was a really awesome experience because during most of our outreach work we were focused on treating/teaching as many patients as possible and were in local schools, which are slightly outside the homesteads of the villages.

Marc heating up the fire for the blacksmith. 

Fred and Patrick then took us to there home village to meet their families and neighbors.  We hung out inside one of the grass huts - which is actually really cool (both temperature wise and visually)!  All of the children were either really excited to meet us, or terrified - we made more babies cry that day than any of us ever have before in life.  Fred let them all come in one by one and greet us, followed by their mothers and some of the men in the village.  Katie got adopted by a little girl named Aiyo (which means "to understand") who did not leave her side for the rest of the day.

Katie & her new best friend. 

 We went to the center of the homestead where they held a courtship dance for us.  Fred was telling us that this is the way that most of the villagers meet their husbands/wives.  One of the villages plays loud music and invites neighboring villages to come for the dance, which usually lasts about 5 or 6 hours.  The single males play instruments and sing while the women dance, once they express interest in one another they meet a few more times and then arrange a dowry if the male is acceptable to the woman's family.

Dan getting in on the action.

Marc playing the drums before the ladies pulled him in to dance!

Saying bye to Fred and Patrick. 

We could not have asked for a better last night in Uganda - the villagers invited us back in the coming years and told us we were welcome to stay in the village if we wanted to really experience Ugandan village life.  After saying goodbye to our new friends, we headed back to Fort Murchison where they had moved us inside to the fancy self contained rooms.  We had yet another DELICIOUS dinner and headed to bed early so we could wake up at 5AM to do some chimp tracking the Buganda Rainforest.

DELICIOUS!

Marc thoroughly enjoying dessert!

Chimp tracking was really cool - the guides lead you to where the chimps are by sound.  The chimps make some really interesting noises and are amazing to watch move around the trees.  We were hoping to get really close, but since they are sort of aggressive we were forced to keep our distance.  After about 2 hours, 3 African KILLER bee scares (meaning they were just regular bees flying around us), the biggest ants we have ever seen, and getting all mudded up we decided to call it a day.  Our driver took us to lunch and we headed to the airport - which is where we will be now, for the next....7 hours - hopefully we will check in and get our tickets without any troubles, but judging from the rest of our travels, thats not likely - fingers crossed!! We are very excited to land in RDU/JFK and see all of our friends and family - we will update one more time when we are back

We couldn't find any good chimp pictures, but here's Marc grooming Katie.