Mural Painting at YALE SS

Our 3 in 1 Art Group at work does great things for school students in the Kayunga and Mukono Districts (I'm not biased at all by the way!) by working with student groups for six weeks about different public health issues. While at the school working with the students we let the students lead the discussions in the sense that they choose the topics of discussion and then we facilitate educative talks around those issues. It is a safe place for the students to ask questions, share stories and also learn the importance of living healthily and positively in their community. After the six week sessions the students get to decide how they want to teach the rest of their school population what they learned: they get to choose whether they show the student population their positive messages through drama, dance or visual arts. The group at Yale Secondary School in Nazigo, which is located in Kayunga District, decided that they wanted to express their messages through visual arts.

With their mural project they came up with the images that they wanted to be displayed on walls at their schools. Along with the pictures they had to create positive messages to be written in Luganda and English with the pictures. This was a totally student lead project with a little help from the Youth Center. I'm very proud of the dedication and creativity the students at YALE SS showed for this project. I'll make sure to post final product pictures once the final touch-ups are made this week.

Dad and Alex's Visit to the Pearl

Dad and my brother Alex came to visit me this past month of June and we had a great time. I went through a massive homesick period in April so it was refreshing to have family here. There is something so emotionally satisfying about sharing this experience with important people who are in your life from back home. I felt blessed that they got the opportunity to experience so many new sights and sounds, but most importantly that they got the chance to meet my new family and friends here in Uganda. Below are some of my favorite memories from their trip - enjoy!

Alex, myself and Dad at Lake Victoria

Dad and I in Jinja

Alex and I in Jinja

Rafting the White Nile

Lioness in Queen Elizabeth National Park

Dad's new friend he made during our hike through the Rwenzori Mountains

One of the many crater lakes in Queen Elizabeth National Park

Yay safari!

Baby elephant playing in the mud

Watering hole time

Us at one of the bigger crater lakes in Queen Elizabeth National Park

Us at Murchison Falls National Park

Awkwardly loved seeing dung beetles

White Egret

Lioness and her four cubs in Murchison Falls National Park

Hippos playing in the hippo pool

We got to go out to breakfast with my friend Britt and her mother

Dad and Alex helped paint the white base coat to prepare for murals at YALE Secondary School

While Alex spent the day with my co-workers at the Youth Center, Dad and I went on a Koome Island outreach together. He had to get carried to the boat and I think the photo describing this event is priceless.

Laba! Art Festival

Recently my Youth Staff who participate in the 3 in 1 Art Group got the chance to attend a street art festival in Kampala. They are working with Leslie, a PhD student from British Columbia, fine tuning their public health messaging through drama, dance and visual arts. This group goes to communities in Kayunga and Mukono Districts to promote safe and healthy living as well as medical male circumcision efforts that are provided by MUWRP. This art festival was a fun chance for the youth to show their skills of drama and dance. They preformed short skits as street art surrounding messages such as being faithful, staying in school, stopping domestic violence and violence in general and stopping human sacrifice. They also preformed two very involved cultural dances and had their visual art hanging around our tent. The art festival for my youth was a huge success, but on a selfish note it was amazing to be there and see all the wonderful artists and crafts on display. The youth cannot wait to attend next year and have already started planning their dances. The were so professional, successful and had so much fun at this event that I do not think words can describe how proud I was of them that day. I am blessed to work with the most amazing youth HIV counselors who are passionate in everything that they do.

Dian, Brain and Chris preforming a skit about violence

Youth Center Staff dance off

(Clockwise from top)
Poni, Doreen, Anna, Aliasha, Brian and Rita having fun at Laba!

The logo for Artivists4life that Leslie and her group created

Francis got a character drawing done

The banners that were shown at the end of every skit

Joseph acting as a medicine man during the human sacrifice awareness skit