About

About Us and Our Projects

Maital…

During the summer of 2005, I traveled to Uganda through the Foundation for Sustainable Development, FSD: http://www.fsdinternational.org. I lived in Mbale and worked with the Bushikori Christian Centre for two months. During that time I received a small grant through FSD and a number of other donations to start what became a one shelf library for high school students. Two years later, the students continue to make use of the now close to 250 (math, science, history, geography, literature, and government) textbooks available to them. In fact, at the end of last summer, I received an inventory of the books and a detailed request for more books.

As the 2007 Henry R. Labouisse fellow, I am spending this year in the same community working to expand the library. For more information about this project, please click on the Community Library tab above.

Adam…

Through the AJWS (American Jewish World Service: ajws.org) Volunteer Corps, I will be working with BCC (Bushikori Christian Centre). This is the same organization where Maital interned during the summer of 2005. I will hopefully be working on a newsletter, and teaching at their school, the Joshua Primary School, among other projects.

I will also be working with the Abayudaya, a Jewish community located near Mbale. Maital and I will be spending Shabbatot and Chagim with the community, and when school is in session, I will be teaching in their primary and secondary schools. I also hope to teach classes on Hebrew reading and text skills for the leaders of the community, the members of the community, and for the youth. Additionally, I will be working with the community on creating a youth group. I have already begun studying Luganda, the local language and I hope to study with a tutor to improve my skills in order to work on some Hebrew-Luganda translation projects.

I am thrilled to be in touch with any visitors that are coming to visit the Abayudaya to discuss any projects in which they hope to be involved. I hope to see some of you in Uganda!

Us…

In the Winter of 2003, we met on a ten-day Hillel Pluralism trip to Israel. Over the course of the next three years, we traveled either together or individually to Argentina, Uruguay, Uganda, Ukraine, and the United Kingdom. (Yes, you are right to notice that we prefer to travel to countries whose names begin with the letter “U.”) When Maital traveled to Uganda, Adam was busy studying Torah at the Ramah Wisconsin Kollel. We probably only spoke twice the entire summer. In Los Angeles at the end of that summer, we decided that if Maital ever returned to Africa, we would go together. So, here we are, returning to Africa, and this time together.

We returned to Israel in the summer of 2006 to celebrate our wedding. Since then, we lived in Princeton, NJ. While Maital finished at Princeton University with a degree in Religion and African Studies, Adam spent his days at the Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union teaching sixth grade Judaic Studies, eighth grade rabbinics, and 8th and 9th grade prayers. We want to thank all of our friends who welcomed us (as a couple and individuals) into the Princeton community and made this past year (and the previous ones) truly fantastic.

We look forward to spending our second year of marriage in Uganda. We hope that this adventure will help us learn about ourselves and each other. As we travel to Africa, live in Uganda, and work on our respective projects, we are excited to continue growing together and challenging one another.

Our photos…

We will try to update our photos frequently with pictures of our various adventures that depict visually the experiences that we will detail in this blog. We hope that our photos capture the progress of our projects as well as a variety of aspects of the culture and our experiences in Uganda. They begin with a selection of photos from Maital’s first trip to Uganda, our wedding, and the past year in Princeton.

Contacting Us…

email: maital.baldachin@gmail.com or adam.baldachin@gmail.com.

snail mail:

Maital and Adam Baldachin

c/o Bushikori Christian Centre

PO Box 594 Mbale, Uganda East Africa

Visits to this side of the world are always welcome!!