The last month has been really busy. Mainly, I have been dividing my time between working at Nabugoye Hill with the Abayudaya and writing my Wexner Fellowship application. Completing the application was a pretty difficult process. Besides being at work all day, I had to find time when there was power and internet connection fast enough to fill out the online survey. Thanks to a lot of power, some internet and help from mentors and friends, I completed and submitted my application on time.
Working with the Abayudaya has been busier now than ever before. A month ago, Heather and Eric, a married couple from Texas traveling the world for a year, came to Uganda from West Africa to volunteer with the community for just over a month. They are very sweet, talented people and are offering the community a lot through their volunteering. Eric is very good at working with Microsoft Publisher and has experience running a Young Judea retreat center, making him very helpful with the up and coming guest house. It has been really fun and educational to work with him for the last few weeks. Another married couple travling the world for a year also moved to Mbale in the middle of January; they came from the other direction, India. Like me, they are working with the community through the Institute for Jewish and Community Research. Dave and Mara are living in the compound where we used to live and are fun to hang out with and a pleasure to work with. Dave and I are working closely together on fixing up the internet café, researching, budgeting, and shopping for guest house furnishings, and creating a system for community volunteers. Dave has a number of years experience in business and I am learning a lot from working with him. He also shares my love of Jewish music, in particular, Shlomo Carlebach, and we will often just break into song while working. Last week, two more volunteers, Elana and Yona, came to the community. Yona will be working in community health care and Elana, a friend of mine from USY and whose sister, Aviva, was my staff on Poland/Israel Pilgrimage, will be teaching Hebrew at Hadassah Primary school and working on some other educational projects.
There is also another volunteer, Ruth, who is volunteering in the community for a few months. Through her initiative, we took on a huge project of painting the synagogue. A month before, I had spent a week arranging all the books in the synagogue. You can imagine my shock, then, when I came to work one day to find many of the books piled on chairs in the middle of the room! I knew how much work it would be to organize the library once again, but was excited for the painting nonetheless. Ruth, Eric, Heather, Dave, Yonit Lax (a friend visiting us for two weeks), some of the community members, and I spent a full week painting the synagogue, fixing some of the bookshelves, and rearranging all the books. Before Shabbat, it looked amazing, and we all gave ourselves a pat on the back. It is amazing what a few driven people could do in such a short time.
So far, we have totally changed around the internet-café by repairing virus-attacked computers, faulty power strips, the network between computers, and internet connections, among other things. Yesterday, the community received money from the Institute to pay for the guest house furniture, and today, Dave and I went to the Industrial Area of Mbale town to order some of the furniture. Additionally, we are also training the guest-house manager in running a guest house and helping him create policies. We are also working with the new volunteer coordinator to create a system for volunteers to come to the community. Additionally, I am teaching the leaders of the community Hebrew three times a week and teaching 2 Hebrew classes at the high school twice a week. Despite the relaxed culture, I am feeling very busy and I feel like I am making a real difference for the community. There is still so much to do, and as Ugandans say, slowly by slowly, we are getting the work done.
